


Several Memory Lane Tickets For Jack Frost Please

by LycanFur



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Memory Loss, Pooka Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood), alternate version
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28768752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LycanFur/pseuds/LycanFur
Summary: Jack started gaining back his 'older' memories through dreaming and there was more to him than he, himself, realized. After the first night, Jack had to find out more about himself and find answers to many questions he had in mind.Or another version of "Story of Two Dumb Pookas." I focus on more plot writing than following the canon plot. This plot takes place several months after Jack became a guardian, and to be specific, near Christmas.
Relationships: E. Aster Bunnymund/Jack Frost
Comments: 3
Kudos: 43





	Several Memory Lane Tickets For Jack Frost Please

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Story of Two Dumb Pookas](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25110778) by [LycanFur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LycanFur/pseuds/LycanFur). 



Pain and ache filling his head as Jack sat down against one of the trees around his lake before rubbing his temper. A sigh escaped his lips as he looked towards the center of the lake where he had been resurrected, brows furrowing as the ache fought away the itch and grew dominant. “The hell is wrong with me…?” He breathed in the cold air around him.

Closing his eyes, he leaned the back of his head against the tree while he tried thinking of the cause of his growing headache. In particular, he blamed the retrieval of his memories and the fact that he had been working constantly since joining the guardians. It had been years since he last felt a headache this bad; more than a decade in fact. “Any idea why I am having this huge headache now, Manny?” He said.

The moon grew brighter in response as he looked up. “You don’t know? Well, that sucks-ssssss!” Jack hissed as the ache suddenly erupted, making him clutch his head in a desperate attempt to soothe it. His ears rang with white noises, rendering his hearing useless.

Unlike other headaches he ever had, this one was the most painful of all. A whine escaped his lips as the pain grew overwhelming. He could go with either wanting it gone or letting it knock him out. However, losing consciousness sounded more appealing for this situation.

Falling into an endless pit it felt like as he let go of his consciousness.

* * *

_The windows in the hallway filtered out only little glaring sunlight. Students were conversing with one another either in excitement or despair about the first day of university. The first class had just finished, and the atmosphere was swiftly occupied by lively interactions between students. One light brown furred pooka came out of his first class, strolling off towards his locker to put away his new textbooks. The pooka greeted just about anyone who looked at him._

_“Jackalope!” He whirled around at the call of his name, careful to not bump into other students. Lips tucking into a beaming smile as he found Aster, his best friend, waving at him._

_“Aster!” He greeted back in the same manner as he approached the tall and overall grey pooka. Known to him his friend had just finished a class he was so excited to be in, he continued with his greeting, glancing up at his tall friend. “How’s Magical Calligraphy?”_

_“It was intriguing, and Professor Barb is pretty chill,” Aster said, shifting the additional books he obtained from the class in his arms. “Probably will take some time until we get to the practical part, though. How about you?” He glanced at the books in Jackalope’s arm; it appeared that he got some more textbooks for himself as well._

_Jackalope’s smile turned into a grimace after the question. “Alchemy was a bit overwhelming. It’s only the first day and I’ve already got ten pages to note down.”_

_“You’ll be fine. You’re the son of two doctors after all.” Aster patted him on his shoulder in sympathy. “I mean, you can ask your father whenever you have questions.”_

_Jackalope nodded along. “If I meet a dead end, I will probably ask my old man.”_

_“Anyway, do you want to hang out at my dorm after class finishes?” Asked the taller pooka. “You can do your work there.”_

_“I-I would love to,” he said promptly, cheeks heating up at the thought of being in Aster’s dorm room. “Meet up at the entrance, right?” He forced his ears to stay up, knowing how it typically fell when he was flustered._

_“Yeah, well, the next class is about to start. I’ll see you again at lunch then.” They both proceeded to their respective classes after that with Jackalope feeling guiltily happy._

_Having his crush inviting him to his room was perchance the most fortunate thing he had experienced right now._

* * *

With aches in his neck and back, Jack woke up with a groan before stretching out his limbs. Mind going back to the dream he ran his hand through his morning hair, Jack attempted to think of what it could have been. A brief analysis of the dream a few minutes later had resulted in him being mystified by the fact that there had been Bunny in his dream, and he had called him Aster.

He, however, doubted how the dream could have been his even with how scarily accurate his recollection of it was. Additionally, there were pookas in that dream, and he interacted with them. As weird as it was, Jack simply knew it was no coincidence. For one, no one should be able to dream about alchemy and remember it as though they had learned about it. Despite being a bit of a bookworm sometimes, he was certain he had never read a single book about alchemy, potion, or medicine.

Time went by, and his frustration grew as the growing questions were left unanswered. Jack figured he should go to North for help, or at least, let the old spirit-cossack-magician-guardian know about his problem. 

“Wind! Take me to the North pole!” Jack hopped into the air as the wind took him away.

The wind carried him into the workshop a few minutes later, landing him in front of the colossal globe. The workshop held some sort of warm atmosphere with lingering scents of baked cookies and sweets. Scanning the room, he found his favorite yeti Phil painting one of the numerous robots that piled up in the corner.

Jack allowed his presence to be known to the yeti, leaning on his staff in his usual smug troublemaker manner. “Yo Phil, you know where North is?” 

The yeti grumbled at him and pointed to North’s office in response. “Thanks!” Jack strolled off in the direction after that.

A few knocks on the door were all it took for a bellow from Santa Claus telling him to enter. Jack opened the door and closed it behind him. “Jack! Welcome, my friend. It’s been a while since you last visited!” North was standing over the table full of contraptions and toys.

Jack let out a chuckle at his companion’s humor. “It’s only been three days, North,” he said before making a seat out of the space on the table for himself.

“Be careful with what’s on the table, will you?” North chided him as he tinkered on a sizable ice block. “And anyhow, what’s the plan for your visit here?”

Prepared for the question, a wan and sheepish smile appeared on his face as he replied. “Well… it’s kinda hard to explain most of it. But for the first part, I had a huge headache last night and a very weird dream. I kinda need your help with that one.” North nodded in acknowledgment and signaled him to continue.

“Well, in this dream, I saw Bunny and… I called him Aster, guess that’s his name, right?” North nodded again at that. “Yeah, and we’re in a place looking like a university hallway. Bunny called out my- I don’t even know if that was my name, he called out for someone named Jackalope and I turned around to greet him. We talked… as if we were best friends, and he invited me to his dormitory in the end. Now, you wanna know what the problems are?”

He didn’t allow North to respond anyway. “The problems are that… there were other pookas in that hallway, and that I somehow suddenly knew about the fundamentals for alchemy after waking up. And- and- how I- no- the person-”

“Whoa! Jack. Breath,” North interrupted him as he squeezed Jack’s shoulder. Doing as told, Jack let out an audible sigh as he calmed down his train of thought.

“Now, even though I am not the most expert in this field. Dreams are diverse, and the one you had can be merely an imagination,” North said.

Jack glared slightly at him. “You don’t believe me?”

“I do! What I am saying is it could have only just been you compiling things you’ve heard and seen into a scenario,” North hastily corrected himself.

“North. I’ve never seen any pooka but the one and only Easter Bunny. And his name? Never even heard of it until the dream. I also have never read about potions,” Jack said. “I just… it feels so tangible, and so… I feel so eerily familiar with it.”

North rubbed his bearded chin, trying to think of the cause. “It does seem extraordinary. How had you been before the dream?”

Jack shrugged at the question. “Pretty normal I would say. Played with the kids. Brought snow to a few provinces in the Northern area. Nothing exhausting. Until yesterday, I suddenly had a growing headache.”

North looked thoughtful. “If anything, it could be a doing of a spirit. But I don’t want to point fingers at the moment. How about you ask Sandy?” He suggested. “And Bunny as well, considering he was in your dream.” Jack grimaced at the wording of that. He hoped it was not his own dream, because he did not think of Bunny that way.

“Uh… Good idea, I guess.” Jack hopped off the table and approached the door. “Good thing Sandy's work pattern is easy to track.”

“Tell him I say hi!” North said as he pulled the door close.

Jack called for the wind to take him to the dream guardian. On the way to Sandy, he contemplated whether to go to Bunny or not. “That wouldn’t be pleasant,” he assumed hastily.

Jack saying he had a dream about bunny and knew his name? The guy would've thought nothing but crazy of him, and dismissed him for lying and trying to prank him.

A few minutes later, he saw the sandman controlling his golden spirals of sand in the distance “Yo! Sandy!” He called out as he waved at the guy.

Sandy noticed him and waved back, his hand disconnecting the spirals, but even so, they still were at work on their own. Above his head was a question mark inquiring why Jack visited him.

Jack gave him a reluctant smile. ”I had a downright odd dream. Visited North, but he could only suggest I come to you. And he said hi.” Sandy nodded in response, and there appeared a sleeping Jack Frost and a question mark above him.

Sandy’s full attention was on him immediately as Jack retold the dream and how he felt about it, and in the end, Sandy requested his permission to operate a kind of magic to check his dream. 

“Go on, I’m just as curious as you.” Jack consented the dream guardian and they settled on one of the rooftops in the area to proceed before Sandy told him to lie down and relax.

Making himself comfortable on the floor just as told before closing his eyes, Jack was slowly lulled to sleep by Sandy’s magical golden sand. 

* * *

_Shyness slowly settled down as he started getting into the flow, Jackalope rigorously scribbled down all the important details from the first ten pages of his potion textbook. Aster sat relaxed on the bed drawing some symbols on his artbook while casually turning to look at the focused student at his desk._

_Known to Jackalope the other’s gaze, he tried not to let it distract him much, putting effort into holding himself back from connecting their gazes. The first ten pages were quite easy to understand. In fact, he could understand most material in one reading._

_As the son of two doctors from the country-side, Jackalope practically grew up with potions and medicines as the nurturing factor; however, he took more interest in potions and experiments. He and Aster met each other in high school, promptly hitting it off right at the start of the year. Violation of the imaginary golden rule of friendship ‘Never have too much feeling’ he did after their first year as best friends._

_He completed the note a few minutes later, letting out a groan as he stretched the tension out of his back and arms. A chuckle from Aster made him turn to its owner, seeing him putting away his artbook and pencil._

_“Wanna play something? I’ve got a monopoly board game, color cards, and chess.” Aster motioned to the shelf containing said items._

_Humming out softly, he inspected each of them before deciding on the color cards. “How about the color cards? It’s been a while since I won,” Jackalope said._

_With a cunning grin, Aster reached for the color cards. “Sure, a **while** it has been indeed.” Emphasizing the word as he responded, Aster gestured at him to sit on the bed._

_Jackalope pouted at the jab. Playing any competitive games with Aster was always hard even with how prepared or fortunate he was. He sat down across from Aster and prepared for the classic game of colorful cards, and words later if he got frustrated._

* * *

“Ugh,”

A series of slaps on his cheeks roused him from his dream-filled slumber. Finding the sandman floating beside him, he pushed himself up from the floor into a sitting position. “I dreamt about it again.” He grimaced slightly before turning to Sandy. “That’s odd. Can we even continue the previous dream?” 

From the look Sandy gave him, he didn’t know Jack had the dream continuing from the last one. “Uh, you know what, let’s start with you first. How’s the result?” Jack coughed awkwardly at the pace of the conversation he was leading.

Sandy told him his dream wasn’t quite clear enough, and that the dream didn’t appear to be wholly a dream. To him, Sandy signed, it felt like there was a mix of something else in the dream; a memory perhaps.

“A memory?” Jack said. “But that doesn’t make sense… I don’t even have that kind of memory, at least, from all that my teeth gave to me. Some of the details don’t make sense to me.”

An audible sigh escaped his lips, he informed Sandy of what he had seen while he was asleep. After that, Sandy suggested he go to Tooth to check his memories; he stood strong with his theory of Jack’s memories mixing up with dreams in a very weird way. 

Although not fond of the theory, he supposed getting the tooth fairy’s help wouldn’t cause much harm. “Wind! To the Tooth palace!” The wind hoisted him up as he called out to it again. 

* * *

Coming into view the beautiful Tooth Palace, several little tooth fairies were flying in and out consistently; it was a job that never allowed a rest. Catching a sight of Tooth in the topmost floor, Jack flew forward to that direction.

Feeling the frosty wind blowing into her usually warm palace, she immediately recognized it as Jack. She turned around to face him with a smile. “Jack!”

“Tooth,” he responded, scanning around the area to see many of the fairies at work.

The palace itself was moderately warm and cozy with colorful colors decorating the structures. It was his second time coming here and he was able to take in its beauty this time. “Are you busy?” He asked.

“No, not really. I’ve just finished sorting the teeth out. I won’t be at work for several minutes before the next batch comes,” she replied, eying him with curiosity. “You’ve never visited before, what do you need help with? Are you getting a toothache? I’ve got some tips for that!”

Chuckling at her enthusiasm, he shook his head. “Well, not a teeth problem. I had a weird dream- well, it’s two weird dreams now, so I need some help,” he said. “Sandy couldn’t identify the first one, and the second one probably would be the same. The little guy suspected it was my memories mixing up with them.”

“So, he told you to come to me,” concluded the Tooth Fairy. “Can you tell me what you dreamed about?”

Jack groaned, now realizing that he had to tell the same thing to everyone if this kept up. “Well, it started with a headache...” Jack explained everything to her, and she listened attentively with her expression turning more curious. He left out the parts of his feelings for Bunny, however.

“That is very strange,” Tooth commented. “There were pookas in your dream? It’s a little bit hard to believe.”

“You tell me”

Tooth appeared to have an idea as her eyes lit up. “Let’s go check your teeth then. I think I’ve got an idea.” She grasped his wrist and dragged him to the section where she stored his teeth.

With the box in his hands, Jack waved it to her. “So, what are we doing?”

Grinning, she grabbed the other end of the box and opened it. Jack could see each of his teeth arranged orderly in slots. “We’re looking through every one of them. Start with this one.” She selected one from its slot. “Each tooth contains the memories of around the time you lost it. This is a more accurate memory retrieval and maybe I should have arranged this right after the celebration; everyone just got too distracted”

Remembering how drunk North and Sandy were after the celebration, he let out a small laugh. Tooth grinned amusedly at him. “Okay, grab my hand. We’re starting.” Jack did as told.

The world around him slowly faded into whiteness. Jack looked around, still grabbing Tooth’s hand. “My magic is recreating the scenario of this memory,” So, that was how it worked.

“Is that so?” Jack immediately thought of fun. “Hey, can we take turns picking them?”

“Sure, a little fun would be good.”

They went through the teeth continuously; each filled with fond memory he made with his family and the people he made friends with. Seeing all of them now hurt him a little as he missed them, but he learned long ago to let go.

Until the tooth he picked next, this one was a little odd with the sharper aspect he didn’t think would be possible for humans. However, he didn’t point it out and continue their process.

As usual, everything turned white, but they both suddenly felt a strange distortion in the air around them while the scene slowly came into view.

They were in a snowy forest, probably far from town.

Jack looked around in confusion. “You felt that right?” He asked her.

“It’s weird.” She nodded, voice laced with concern. “I’ve never felt that before.”

Looking around their surroundings, Jack could only find the whiteness of the falling snow and the dark brown color of the trees. “Uh… I honestly don’t know which one this was.” Unease hung heavily in the air as they observed the area, but there was nothing else to see.

“This is uncanny,” Tooth began after a few seconds which felt like minutes. “Something should be happening now-” She stopped as Jack promptly looked up in the sky. Following his gaze, she detected something falling at an unusual speed towards them.

Despite knowing this was just an intangible scenario, they both quickly fled the area before the object crashed to the ground. The loud impact shook their eardrums just as smoke and vaporized steam filled the air; however, due to the usual winter wind, the obscuring air was quickly blown away in seconds.

In the center of the crash site was a two feet tall pod, some sort of machine it resembled, a vehicle perhaps. Like an egg, it was shaped, and there was no window for them to look inside. “W-what in the hell?” Jack let out a breath. “This is my memory? But… there shouldn’t- couldn’t be anything like this in the past...”

Tooth was just as confused as he was. She thought it was someone else’s tooth, but she definitely could not miss anything after the recheck every decade.

There was a sound of air being expelled before what looked like the door of the pod opened up, revealing a light brown furry creature. Jack gasped at the sight, suddenly recognizing the creature as a pooka. 

They were laden in what reminded him of an 00’ male fashion with only the dark Edwardian tailcoat and a white undershirt. Wrapped around their hips a belt with slots full of colorful vials, and above their eyes were a pair of goggles.

“Nice landing it was,” the pooka grumbled in sarcasm, still sitting inside the pod. “Ugh… how long has it been? Millenniums?” From their voice, Jack could guess they were a male.

The pooka unbuckled the safety belt before standing up shakily. “Okay…” The pooka breathed out, trying out his footing after a long cramp. He looked down and inspected his legs before sighing out in relief.

Legs wobbling but remained balanced as he finally stepped out. “Gotta find others.” The pooka reached inside the pod before pulling out a case. With a long inhale, he examined his surroundings before sighing out. “That way I guess.” And to that direction he gradually walked off.

“Others?” Jack repeated before turning to Tooth. “Bunny?”

She shook her head. “I know just as much as you, Jack,” she said. “Come on, let’s follow him.”

The pooka pulled out a device before waving it around as he walked. “Come on, come on... There’s gotta be at least someone.” He checked the device’s screen and sighed out in desperation. “For all one knows, this planet could be too big for our signals to reach and match,” concluded the pooka.

The pooka pocketed the device into his coat in frustration after several trials. “It’s getting dark.” Quickening his pace, he followed the openings between the trees. Coming into sight a decently sized frozen pond as he hurried through the woods. The pooka looked around the pond before finding a hollow in one of the trees.

“It’s cold,” the pooka mumbled as he opened up the case. Inside the case were a lighter, a dagger, and a simple medkit. “Gotta find dry fuel.” The pooka quickly ran out of the hollow.

Fortunate enough for him, there were many sticks and branches he could use. A few minutes later, he made a small bonfire one feet away from the entrance, it warmed up the surrounding air and the inside of the hollow without burning the tree down.

Jack and Tooth watched as the pooka curled up inside the hollow, unable to comprehend the pooka’s situation. “What do you think happened?” He asked her.

Deep in thought for a moment, her expression suggested to him that she was starting to piece up something. “Bunny told us he came from a planet far away. A pooka planet, I’d say. Maybe something terrible happened, and they had to evacuate.”

Jack nodded along. “That sounds… possible. The most possible.” He stared at the pooka, but he didn’t truly pay attention to him. His thought was running wild about why this memory was in his tooth. _Was this supposed to be mine?_

He couldn’t find a reasonable way to believe it was his. That he could be the pooka was even harder to make sense of. He was, before resurrected, a human. The pooka was a different species. 

“Damn it!”

Startled by the outburst, he watched as the pooka gripped the device hard with seething anger radiating from him. It seemed to him that the pooka still had not found whatever he was searching for. He and Tooth shuffled awkwardly as the pooka tossed the device to the floor beside him out of frustration.

“Had the military funded my research, we wouldn’t have lost so much. Damn them all, damn every one of them. Damn that traitor Kosmotis,” he grounded out before going still and silent. “Aster… I wish you were here with me. I-I don’t know what to do anymore…” It was all that he let out as he brought his knees close and curled up, hiding from the world.

“He knew Bunny,” Tooth said, frowning slightly. “And Kosmotis… it’s Pitch’s old name. Bunny was very vengeful against Pitch when we first became guardians.”

Jack looked at the pooka closely, wondering if this guy was the one Jack had been dreaming of. His fur was the same color. His voice despite sounding slightly older was the same one. His equipment indicated his occupation in the alchemy field. This… this was Jackalope.

“Jack. I don’t want to freak you out, but you need to know that… this is your memory.” Tooth grasped both of his wrists. “So far it hasn’t shown you. So, if anything, this pooka could be-” Tooth paused as she observed Jack. He was getting paler and paler, more than he ordinarily was.

“I-it’s not possible.” He gritted his teeth. “I was a human. I know I was.” Yanking his wrists out of her grasp, he turned away to hide his distressful state.

Knowing Jack wouldn’t be able to take it any further, she stopped the scenario and her magic, allowing the world around them to fade away. They came back to the palace with Jack’s hand still holding onto the tooth and hers holding onto his.

Pulling away to put the teeth back in the back, he paused to examine the tooth. It was certainly not formed like those of humans, being too big to fit into the jaw. Frowning, he didn’t want to believe he was the pooka. It would just bring up more questions, confusion, and hellacious stress. 

“Jack, are you okay?” Tooth reached out and caressed his shoulder softly.

“I-” Jack inhaled deeply before putting the tooth back into its slot. “I’ll be fine. Just a lot more questions in my mind now.”

With a comforting grin, she moved to wrap his hand around the tooth box. “If you would like, you can keep it. Maybe, go to Bunny and ask him,” she told him before letting go.

“I’ll see if I can,” Jack grunted, shrugging. “I’m just afraid he would be mad at me or call me crazy for dreaming and talking about his kind. As far as we know, he is the last one, isn’t he?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “Just try to be smooth. Don’t rush your explanation. He can be quick to assume. So, be quicker.”

Jack let out an exaggerated sigh. “Quicker than a pooka? Nice advice.” 

Tooth giggled. “Just try. It wouldn’t hurt. You two fixed your relationship, didn’t you?”

“Kind of?”

One of the little fairies came rushing towards Tooth, chirping to her boss clear and loud. “The next batch is here? I’ll be there in seconds,” she said to the little fairy before turning back to him. “Duty calls, Jack. If you ever want to see it again, you know what to do.” She gave him a quick hug and flew away just as quickly.

“Yeah…” He looked down at the box, his box of memory. “What am I getting into?”

* * *

Not being able to gather enough courage to confront the Easter Bunny, he came back to his pond. The very same pond he saw in his memory. The tree hollow was still there as well. Having grown thicker and bigger, the inside was not as spacious as before, which was to be expected.

Curious, Jack crawled inside to find what could be left here. And there it was, the case, partially buried into the dirt. He gulped as he dug the dirt away before exerting all his force to wrench it out.

“Okay…” He breathed out. “It’s real then.”

Sitting down cross-legged on the ground to examine the case, Jack found a simple flip-lock connecting the two shells. Flipping the lock open, he placed it on the ground before lifting the top shell. In there were the Edwardian uniform, the potion belt, and the goggles.

“These are his equipment.” Mumbling along his thought, Jack pulled out the tailcoat and inspected it, turning it around back and forth. “Seems pretty clean and well kept, despite all the wrinkles.”

He continued to look through the items in there. The belt contained one unused vial of red potion, making him wonder if the potion had already expired. The white undershirt didn’t have anything interesting. The goggles looked a lot like the ones from humans’ pop culture called steampunk, probably used to protect one’s eyes from chemical gas during an experiment.

Jack took the red potion from the belt and inspected it. The vial is made of glass, and the mouth is capped tightly. The liquid inside, now that he had a closer look, was bright red and appeared to be a little sticky as he carefully jiggled it and observed.

“Since it’s pretty much physical. It shouldn’t affect me as a spirit, right?” Making a wild assumption, Jack twirled the cap off and brought the mouth close to his nose. The smell was not bad, consisting of a sweetened scent of nature, a flower maybe; however, it also smelled a little luring.

Should he drink it? “Nope,” he said, halting his curiosity. Who knew what this potion could do. Despite being an immortal spirit and immune to most human physical conditions, he feared the unknown that could happen to him because this seemed like no ordinary potion.

Putting all the items back into the case, he considered whether he should bury it back or take it with him. Not like someone would know about it anyway. With a nod to himself, Jack took the case to the pond before washing out all the dirt.

“Hmm… what to do next?” He looked up at the sky, it was the evening. With winter coming to Burgess, it was getting dark quicker and quicker each day. “Oh yeah, Jamie!” Jumping into the air, the wind caught him and brought him to Jamie’s house in no time.

In the courtyard, the kids were sitting in a circle with Jamie being the center of their attention. From the look of it, he guessed they were having a tale reading session. The frosty wind that came with him notified the children of their guardian of fun’s arrival, turning around to find him landing on the ground.

“Hey guys,” Jack greeted, resting his staff on his shoulder. “Having fun?” He approached them and stood beside the circle of children, peering at the book in Jamie’s lap.

“We’re reading Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland!” Jamie excitedly informed him, lifting the book to show him the cover ‘Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland for Kids’. “Do you know this book? Were you there when it was first published?”

Jack chuckled. “Of course! Though, I’ve never got to read it.”

“You can sit in,” Caleb said. “We’re getting to the good part.”

Pippa snickered at him. “You are always getting to the good parts, Caleb. You’re probably the one who enjoys this the most here.”

“I enjoy it too! I hope there is a unicorn in there!” Cupcake exclaimed. “Right, Sophie?” She turned towards the younger Bennett beside her. They both seemed to get along well with their fondness of the said mythical creature.

“Unicorn!” Sophie squealed.

“M-Madhatter is such a weird guy,” Monty said shyly.

Shrugging, he replied. “Not like I’m busy right now.” He sat down beside Jamie after they moved to give him space. 

The case on his lap felt heavy as he absentmindedly listened along. He enjoyed good storytelling, as he used to be the one who did it for his siblings himself… His siblings…? 

He was pretty sure he was adopted at around eighteen. It wasn’t that hard, considering there was no paperwork needed to be done. Just a loving family was enough for adoption at that time, and you were never too old to get adopted.

Surprising to him was the lack of memories of his childhood, and how many teeth he had after the age of eighteen. It seemed as if his teeth started falling at that age, and it was peculiar.

It was an hour later when Mrs. Bennett came out and told the kids to start heading home. They all complied after saluting one another including Jack. After Jamie’s friends were on their way home, Jack was about to bid Jamie goodbye when he spoke up. “So, what’s that case you’re carrying?”

Jack gulped, contemplating whether he should lie or not. It wasn’t like Jamie would flaunt to anyone about it, nor would he look at Jack differently. “Something from my memory, I’ve only remembered it now. I’m in the middle of seeking answers to my… peculiar memories, right now, and it kinda involves this thing.” He showed Jamie the case.

“What’s inside? Can I see it?” Jamie asked, eying the case but never reaching to touch it.

“Well,” Jack trailed off. “I’ll show you when I sort things out with my memories. Promise. I can’t explain or understand much now.”

Jamie’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm. “Okay! Anyway, I’ve kept you long enough. Bye!” He collected his book and hastily moved into the house before his mom could scold him.

As of now, he started to feel the emotional tiredness seeping into him. It had been a long day, and he could use some sleep, despite not needing any. Found himself the winter spirit in his room at Santa Claus's workshop later, head cushioned with a soft pillow as he slept.

* * *

_“Did they-” Jackalope began as he saw Aster coming out of the meeting room. “Did they say the same thing?”_

_Aster sighed, nodding. “We’re one of the top students here. It’s to be expected, I guess.”_

_“It’s not fair! We’re just students. How they can so selfishly recruit us to the military is out of the line!” Jackalope grounded out. “And shouldn’t we have a say in this? What about our families!?”_

_Aster clasped him on the shoulders. “I don’t know, okay? I’m just as in the dark as you.”_

_Jack inhaled deeply to calm his nerves before he could get out of control. “This is not fair. Threatening our families for non-compliance? What are they? A dictator?”_

_Aster pulled him into a hug. “I know. I know it’s not fair. Though, it’s only three years. If we pull through, we could come back.” Aster pulled away as he looked Jackalope in the eyes. “Are you with me?”_

_Jackalope bit his lips and nodded. “I’m with you. Always will be.”_

_“Great.” Aster nodded. “Now, let’s see… you’re assigned to the alchemy field, right? I’m in the frontline armory. We should be collaborating quite often, from what I’ve learned.”_

_“They… need my help with one of their potions. It- it’s dangerous. Could disrupt mental stability after the effect wears off, so they need me to fix that.” Jack let out an exaggerated groan. “It’s like they’ve been monitoring our achievements.”_

_“Yes, they’re downright creepy.” Aster gulped at the statement. “I’m good at drawing offensive magical symbols and they need me to try and implement these symbols onto objects. They even coined the term ‘Imprint’.”_

_“A good experiment. But they better have some safety measures for you. Otherwise, I’ll blow up the place,” Jackalope gritted his teeth._

_“Please don’t.” Aster chuckled._

_Jackalope let himself fall against Aster’s shoulder while the other moved his hand to caress his back in comfort. Known to both that their lives could never be the same for the next three years, they decided to take a moment to make peace with that fact in each other’s comfort._

* * *

_“Please, commander. This potion, it’s too dangerous,” Jackalope pleaded the commander who turned her back at him. “Mixing in my formula will only reduce the effectiveness to ten percent, which gives exactly the effect alike to the strength drug, with the possibility of mental disruption.”_

_“That is what we expect you to solve, Mister Pyrefrost,” she said, voice strong as steel. “It’s important that we produce this potion as soon as possible. Head Commander Kosmotis Pitchiner went missing a few weeks ago. There were a few Fearlings sightings a month ago as well, and that implies something sinister is happening while you’re failing to do your job properly.” She turned to him, her eyes cold as ice. “You don’t want to doom us now, do you?”_

_Jackalope gritted his teeth. “I have a better solution. The potion not only does have its own mental relaxation function, but also only twenty percent weaker than the one you guys have been working on. From my perspective and calculation, this potion, along with Bunnymund’s magical weapon imprints, could surpass the military’s potion. Only if you could fund my research.”_

_“The same thing, again,” Her voice laced with boredom. “No offense, Pyrefrost. But Bunnymund hasn’t even produced a single reliable and strong enough imprints. And you only have your formula, no real product at all.”_

_Jackalope visibly flinched at the rebuke. “I-I need the materials. My formula should be correct. I am unsure of two of the material right now. So, I need that fund.”_

_“You know what I think?” Annoyed by his persistence, she scoffed and glared at him. “You should focus on your task instead of getting off track with all these… nonsense with Bunnymund. Now, go back to work. We need no more discussion.”_

_Jackalope clenched his fists in frustration and stormed out of the room. “Fucking military…” He grunted out._

* * *

Frustration, anger, and confusion were the only emotions Jack Frost could perceive as he laid on his bed. Unable to coherently think as he replayed the dreams in his head. Breaking the details into pieces, Jack reached into the pouch of his hoodie and fiddled with his memory box. Everything about the dreams felt too tangible, too real; and it disrupted all that he believed.

He needed to know more, but he couldn’t find it in him to go back to sleep. He pushed himself up from the bed, groaning as his shoulders popped. Going to Tooth again would be the best option, but it was probably too early to bother her; last night's batch coming in and all.

He considered going to Aster and inquired about all the details. “Nope, too personal for both of us,” Jack grumbled.

He left the case in his room before walking out with his staff, deciding he should go take a flight for a bit. “Oh- Baby Tooth?” Before he could even call for the wind, he noticed Baby Tooth flying up to him with a piece of paper.

She handed him the paper, urging him to take it. “For me?” He accepted the paper.

Written elegantly on the paper was a message from Tooth to him. ‘ _Jack, you likely want to see more of your memory. But, it appears that I need to work on quite a lot of teeth today. Therefore, in case you don’t want to wait, Baby Tooth can help you access your memories. Meet you at the meeting later! – Toothiana_ ’ 

Jack nodded in understanding as he finished reading. Turning to Baby Tooth, he bestowed her a thankful smile. “You’re quite a special one, you know that?” She chirped in response to his compliment.

Taking a seat at the ledge of a window, Jack opened the box and picked the tooth up, holding it in his hand. “Alright, you ready?” He held out his hand to let her touch it.

Baby Tooth placed her hand on his, and Jack’s vision faded into whiteness before the scene appeared. Baby Tooth’s version of memory revision was a lot more intangible than Tooth’s. He couldn’t control where to look. In fact, he couldn’t even feel himself in the moment.

The scenario appeared to take place much later time after the last scene. He could see his adoptive sister Mary with Jackalope in the tree hollow. Mary seemed to be paying attention to what Jackalope was telling her, expression held sadness and understanding for him.

“You can call me Jack,” the pooka told her. “It’s not my full name, but I think it holds no meaning for me now, after what happened back home.”

“Oh… my full name’s Mary Overland. And I’m really sorry for your loss, Jack.” Mary reached out to caress him on his forearm in comfort.

“Thanks for understanding.” Jackalope offered her a faint smile, voice strained with grief. “We relate in that way, don’t we?”

Mary nodded. “But my adoptive family is a kind one. It took a long time to accept them and let go of the past. We just have to keep moving forward.”

Bewildered by her wisdom, he smiled more genuinely. “You’re intelligent,” He complimented.

She giggled at that. “Not really, I merely have to be more responsible as the oldest sibling with two younger brothers, even though I am only eleven years old.”

Jackalope hummed in agreement. “I see a lot of siblings being like that, with the eldest feeling responsible, mostly in the biological siblings. But I guess it’s not always the birth order but age and intimacy at work…” Jackalope trailed off as he added a chunk of wood into the fire. “Sorry, if I confuse you. I’m what you would call a thinker.”

Mary giggled at him. “I really don’t mind,” She stated as she rubbed her hands together and blew into them. “You were asking about the Easter Bunny, earlier?”

“Ah yeah, that. What is it?” He asked her, knowing that he should start learning about the locals as soon as possible.

“The Easter Bunny is the one who hides chocolate eggs for us children to find on Easter day,” She spoke to him enthusiastically. “We believe he’s a bunny carrying a basket full of eggs, running around and hiding from our sights as he hides the eggs.”

“A bunny?” He repeated the word before glancing at the pile of what had been left after his meal. “The one I’ve just cooked?”

“Yes. And you resemble them quite a lot, except the size, and the diet.” Mary glanced at the bones and shuddered. “I can bring you food if you need it.”

Jackalope failed to agree with that. “It’s winter. You and your family need food more,” He retorted. “I’ll be fine on my own. Even if I discover none of my kind in this world, I guess I could just change shape and become one with your civilization.”

“You can?” Mary’s eyes sparkled with interest.

“My shapeshifting potion should help, I just need a little DNA- you probably don’t know about DNA… Um… A strand of hair to mix in the potion to change shape.” Jack explained, showing her the potion.

“But… Do you actually want to do that?” Mary asked, concerned.

Jackalope shrugged, sighing in resignation. “I can’t go around looking like an overgrown bunny now, can I? And don’t worry, I have another potion for when I want to change back, or when I find another one like me.” He showed her a bright red potion.

They both sat in silence for a bit after that. Mary appeared to be contemplating something before she finally spoke up. “You can come live with us then.”

“What?” Jackalope turned towards her, bewildered again. “But I-”

“After you change your shape, you can come live with my family. I’m certain we can adopt one more member,” she said. “It’s an offer. You don’t need to feel pressured.”

Jackalope gulped. “O… kay…?”

Mary laughed at his expression. Her laugh sounded bright and warm despite the frigid weather, just like how it always was.

The scene started to fade away as he came back to the real world, on the ledge of a window in North’s workshop. He turned to Baby Tooth as she let go of his hand. “That’s all?” She shook her head in decline before letting out a yawn, tired out from showing him the scene.

“Guess that’s a bit too long for you, huh?” Jack escorted her towards his pouch and let her hop in to rest. Strolling off to his room after putting the tooth back in the box, he placed the box down on his bed before reaching for the case.

He took out the red potion, running his thumbs along the vial. It was the same bright red potion he had seen Jackalope showing it to Mary. In the memory, she said she had two younger brothers; and that meant she knew the pooka even before Jack’s adoption. But as there hadn’t been anyone else joining the family until him, could it mean that the pooka found his own kind?

That wouldn’t support why the case was still here with all of Jackalope’s equipment. Additionally, the fact that the only one potion left was the shape reversal one did sit quite well with the assumption.

Did Bunny find him? Probably not. Everyone would have seen Jackalope in the Warren when they were assisting him in the Pitch incident.

That Jackalope had suggested Mary call him ‘Jack’ implied something Jack had been denying since the beginning. Also, Jack only having his memories from his late teen seemed to nothing but prove the idea more realistic.

He felt like puking up, but there was nothing in his stomach. Mayhap, he was in fact the shapeshifted Jackalope, but that did not mean he could go back to being Jackalope now. Damn it, he couldn’t even remember half of Jackalope’s memories. 

Looking intently at the vial of potion before placing it back into the case, Jack decided to keep it for later. He must know more about the past first. He just could not change promptly and appear in front of everyone like this, especially Aster- Bunny- whatever.

Right now, he required a way to continue his dream or recollection. Would Sandy’s dream sand work? He could try that out tonight after the meeting. There was a possibility that the other three guardians could bring up Jack’s current problem with his dreams and memories; therefore, he had to notify them before the night came.

He made his way to where North usually worked, knocking on his door to get a boisterous response before proceeding. “Hey North,” he said, closing the door behind him.

“Jack! How are you? You looked quite beat when you came in last night,” asked the cossack, his attention splitting between Jack and his ice sculpture.

Jack leaned on his staff, shrugging. “I’m fine, I guess. Yesterday was just a bit too eventful for me,” he said. “I found out something about my past actually, and I kind of made peace with it just five minutes ago.”

Noticing the lack of humorous response and coy smile Jack typically gave him, North placed the sculpting tools down to point it out. “Good for you. But, are you sure you’re okay?”

Jack frowned at him, shrugging nonchalantly. “I’m sure. I’m just… a bit nervous about tonight’s meeting, I guess.”

“How so?” North raised his brows.

“I need you to not mention anything about my current situation when Bunny is here, okay?” Jack demanded. “It appears that my dreams are more than just dreams, and I need to work something out before taking action.”

North looked surprised by how Jack was acting and how he spoke. “Oh, wow, must be a very personal matter, huh?” He mused, holding up his hands in an assuring manner. “I promise I won’t talk about it, Jack. I think I will have to tell Sandy as well.”

“And Tooth?” Jack added.

“She knows best when it comes to personal memories. She won’t talk about it.” North assured.

“Hm… I’ll tell her, just in case…” Jack trailed off. “Um… sorry for sounding so demanding. It’s been… frustratingly confusing.” He looked down in shame, feeling oddly out of character from his earlier actions.

North offered him a warm smile as he approached Jack and placed his hands onto the winter spirit’s shoulders. “It’s okay, Jack. I believe everyone has something in their life to work out,” he said. “And they go through different emotions in the process. Whatever you need to work it out, you can do it.”

Jack blinked at the cossack, dazed by the words of encouragement. “T-thanks.”

Jack made his way out of the room as North proceeded to write a letter to Sandy. Tooth usually arrived an hour before the meeting started, so there was no rush in informing her of this. For now, he needed to keep himself busy. 

“I can help out the yeti to pass time, I guess.” He muttered to himself.

* * *

One hour before the meeting, he heard North welcoming Tooth into the workshop in delight, his voice still boisterous and enthusiastic as ever. Jack let go of the current coloring project he was working on and flew to where they were, ignoring Phil’s annoyed protest.

“Tooth,” Jack began as he approached them.

North nodded to him. “I’ll leave you two to talk.” He walked off to somewhere else, probably to check on the gifts.

She brightened up as soon as she noticed him. “Jack! How are you today?”

“I’m as good as always,” Jack replied. “And, about Baby Tooth, thanks. She was a great help.”

Baby Tooth flew out of his hoodie and immediately chirped to her queen enthusiastically. “Oh? That’s nice!” Tooth responded to her before turning to Jack. “She’s saying your hoodie is the best to sleep in.”

“Thanks.” He chuckled softly before his expression quickly turned serious. “Anyway…”

“About Bunny, right?” Tooth offered him an amused look. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell a single soul. You, though, have to be the most careful of us all. Try not to be too obvious.”

“Right. Understood.” Jack let out a sheepish chuckle. “I’m getting somewhere, but I need to know more before taking action. I can mostly predict what happened in the tooth’s memory. I just need to know more about… the pooka through dreaming.”

“Sandy might be able to help.” She suggested.

“I need his dream sand,” Jack told her. “Bunny will just get home as soon as possible after the meeting, so I have plenty of opportunities to ask for it.”

* * *

Jack saw the Easter Bunny bounding into the workshop one hour later just as the meeting was about to start. Jack immediately dropped down beside him. “Bun!” Maintaining his ordinary joyous nature despite feeling tension on the inside, Jack greeted Bunny a bit too loud for the pooka’s sake.

Bunny yelped out, startled by his sudden appearance. “Geez! Frostbite! I’m going to die from a heart attack if you keep doing that!”

Jack grinned coyly. “Can you, though?”

“With you, I possibly can,” Aster grumbled as he kicked the snow out of his feet.

“Come on, North’s starting,” Jack led Bunny to the meeting area of the workshop which was around the moon crystal.

North had decided to add a round table around the crystal holder, and five small chairs for them to sit on. Far from fancy the design was, but it got the job done, and none of them complained about it.

Noticing them approaching, Sandy gave them a wave before going back to munching on his cookies. Tooth gave Bunny a friendly hug, and North gave his back a hearty slap. The pooka grumbled a little about how touchy they were, but he seemed to not mind.

They all took their respective seat as the meeting started. North notified the guardians of the upcoming Christmas Holiday. Since they had not fully retrieved all the believers they lost in Pitch’s incident, he offered to include some of their designs and ideas in his gifts.

Jack felt oddly out of place as the four guardians informed North of some of their ideas. Having been the only one who had not lost any believers, he did not have any idea in his mind. On top of that, with a certain tension he was suffering, he couldn’t think of anything else but want this meeting to be over and get some dream sand.

“What about you, Jack?”

Jack blinked as he heard the question. But from who? He looked around the table confusedly before reminding himself to respond. “Oh! Ah… I don’t know…” He gave a sheepish giggle as he responded to the question.

He saw North, Tooth, and Sandy looking at one another with concern for him. From the corner of his sight, he could guess Bunny was giving him a suspicious look. “I mean, I’m gaining believers gradually now. It’s been splendid, and I’m okay with it. Furthermore, Jamie is already helping with this ‘blog’ he’s writing on the internet.” Jack shrugged languidly.

“Okay then,” North nodded understandingly. “Does anyone have something else to notify?”

“Quite uneventful on my side,” Bunny grunted. “Some spring spirits argue over territories from time to time, and it’s annoying. Mother Nature visited and suggested I socialize more.” From the tone of his voice, Jack knew that Bunny didn’t really care much about socializing.

Sandy was the next to briefly inform them of what he had been up to, which was mostly understood as ‘Falling stars had been appearing more often and how much he liked looking at them and wishing them fortune.'

“Oh! I’ve been trying out several sugar-free tea blends I create from my garden!” Tooth exclaimed brightly. “The spirits who usually visit me really like them. Cupid has been getting them for his girlfriend!”

Jack watched as the pooka’s ears perked up at the mention of tea. “How have I not known of this?” Bunny sounded a bit hurt. “You have to give some to me, Tooth.”

“Duh, you gotta communicate with her for the tea,” Jack commented. “Quite reasonable that Mother Nature told you to socialize more.”

Bunny lightly glowered at him. “You’re one to talk. Bet you only socialize with Jamie and his friends! You’re just as bad.”

Jack shrugged nonchalantly as he gave the Easter Bunny a mischievous smirk. “At least, I’m fun to talk to. And the kids love me more.”

“I’m fun to talk to as well,” Bunny retorted. “You just don’t know me enough.”

It got Jack thinking about the younger version of Bunny. Jackalope and Aster were best friends, right? So, he had to be fun to talk to somehow. “Alright,” Jack admitted dismissively.

“W-wait,” Bunny sputtered. “You’re letting me win?”

Jack arched his brows at him, realizing he might have been too obvious with his current tension. “I-is there anything to argue about?

“Uh... no,” Bunny frowned at him, confused. “You typically call for a contest when we compare ourselves.”

“I have a lot on my mind at the moment,” Jack avoided eye contact as he replied. “Besides, it’s true. I don’t know you enough.”

Bunny eyed him suspiciously but didn’t interrogate him.

“Come on now, it’s not uncommon,” Reassured the winter spirit as he internally screeched at how he almost allowed the building tension be known to the pooka.

Thankfully, North read the situation well enough to change the topic. “That’s true! Anyway, anything more to report?” He asked around the table and received no answer. “No? That wraps up the meeting then!”

“Great,” Bunny hopped off the chair and started heading off. “I’ll be back later with some of my designs.”

“I’ll be expecting you all!” North exclaimed after him.

Tooth turned towards Jack, chuckling a little at him. “See? You need to be more in control.”

“I was not expecting him to be so observant,” Jack pulled his hair in frustration primarily directed at himself. “Thanks to North wrapping it up, otherwise I would’ve exposed myself. Can’t imagine being interrogated by the Easter Bunny.”

Tooth grinned. “He may not look like it. But he cares, Jack.”

Sandy floated up to him and held up a pouch filled to the brim with golden dream sand. “Oh, thank you, Sandy!” Jack received the pouch, beaming at Sandy. Sandy gave him a thump-up before floating off to North, probably to discuss his designs with the cossack. 

Being the one who shaped dreams, Sandy has such skill for imaginative artistry. Jack on the other hand felt like he was more of an informative type, despite not looking like it. Sure, he can shape ice and draw rabbits, but that was it.

Plus, knowing his background, he had been feeling more and more… logical? Rational? He until now didn’t realize how much thinking he had been doing, making assumptions and conclusions constantly about the current situation. 

Setting in his chest a pang of anxiety as he wondered, if he would still be the same cheery, fun, and playful spirit the children love after fully retrieving his memories. He didn’t want to lose them.

“Jack?” He flinched as he felt a hand on his shoulder, turning to find Tooth giving him a worried look. “Are you okay?”

Jack gulped, calming himself down from anxiety. “I was having a second thought, but… no, I can’t go back now. It’s only going to happen either way.” He told her, looking at the pouch in his hand. “I’m afraid doing this would change me.”

“Don’t you worry, Jack,” She caressed his shoulder reassuringly. “We’ll be there with you every step.”

Jack offered her an appreciative smile. “Thanks.”

“Anytime!” She ruffled his hair. “We’re family, after all!”

Jack gaped at her, touching his hair where she had ruffled before his expression softened into a delightful one. “Yeah, we’re family.”

Tooth bid them goodbye after talking with North for the next half an hour. Sandy went back to his duty after providing a few examples of his designs. Jack went back into his room, preparing for one hell of a dream.

* * *

_Jackalope stood in front of the one-way mirror, his body rigid as he watched the subject -the victim- finished destroying all the objects in the room. Jackalope clenched his eyes shut, unable to look at the aftereffect of the drug played out. All he could hear were fearful whimpers and hysterical incoherent words._

_They had been haunting him._

_“Subject shows signs of hallucination and inability to converse, though milder than the previous ones.” The other experimenters in the room concluded. “Proceed to containment and direct him to the psychiatry ward.”_

_Knowing it was his cue to leave, he wasted no time rushing out of the room. His chest felt tight and his head felt dizzy as he leaned against the wall of the hallway, trying to calm himself down. He inhaled deeply before sighing out, reminding himself to go back to the lab._

_He walked into the lab like a robot, body tensed, face blank. “The latest subject fell into hysteria,” He declared to everyone, putting down the report paper on one of the tables._

_Groans rang out across the room, some people complained about how repetitive the results have been. “Pyrefrost, are you okay?” Jackalope realized he had been hunching in front of the table, staring at nothing._

_He looked up to face Elle Honeydrop, slowly comprehending the sigh of her before him. He must have looked really bad as she made a face. “Okay, that’s creepy. Are you okay there?” She said as she looked at him with concern._

_Jackalope blinked out of his stupor, shaking his head. “I’m… okay, I guess,” He replied._

_“Liar,” She frowned at him judgmentally. “I know you’re not. The potion experiment… You feel guilty about it, don’t you?”_

_Clenching his fists in anger, he glared at the report before him. “They were fine before until they drank the potion.” He closed his eyes. “I- I can’t… I can’t get their whimpers and screams out of my mind. I want to stop.”_

_“In that case, why do you not?” She asked. Known to her he was relieving all of his guilt, she had to be a listener._

_“Someone dear to me requires my potions. I- I just need some funds because two of the materials are not in the base, and I’ll prove to them how wrong their method is.” Jackalope rubbed his temper. “Commander surprisingly submitted a request for me, but the headquarter still rejected. I don’t know what to do anymore…”_

_“Have you tried substitutes?” Considerably, she asked._

_“Definitely, and the results are too minimal to be guaranteed as worthy of investment. I’ve done everything I can,” He grounded out._

_“Hmm…” Elle looked thoughtful for a moment._

* * *

_“H-how-” Jackalope was shut off by her slapping her hands over his mouth._

_“I have my ways,” Elle whispered, pushing the bad into his chest. “Now, keep it a secret only between us. I could get arrested for doing this for you. No need to pay back.”_

_Jack gaped at her as she let go before walking out of his sight as fast as possible. He held the bag close, zipping it up before going back to his dorm room._

_He couldn’t believe it. All the materials were here now._

* * *

_Jackalope sobbed into his most beloved friend’s shoulder as he cried, never ending guilt devouring him. “She helped me. She- if I hadn’t-”_

_“Shhh…” Aster ran his hand against Jackalope’s head, trying to console him. “I… am so sorry. But, you have to make her effort worth it.”_

_Jackalope nodded against his shoulder, his sobs calming down. “I… I miss you,” He admitted. “I’ve been having nightmares, and I- the voices of them are still in my head. I can’t take it anymore. I have to put a stop to this.”_

_“We have to move to the mothership in a few days,” Aster informed. “I’ve been making better imprints, though they tire me out quite easily. Being on the mothership would make it easier for them to contribute the weapons.”_

_“And a more stable and cleaner environment for potions,” He mumbled out, shuddering. “Will I… be the same after all of this?”_

_Aster looked at Jack with concern. “If you can’t go on anymore, I can request for you to retire early,”_

_Jackalope shook his head at that. “I have to do it. What they are doing is wrong. I have to stop it.”_

* * *

_Jackalope finally did it. He created the potion._

_After several rigorous observations and careful experiments, he ultimately finished the final product. His calculation and formula had been accurate. All the thanks to his father who passed down his knowledge onto him, and Elle who sacrificed her freedom for the materials. He was eternally grateful._

_All hell broke loose before he could even deliver the potion to the commander. Alert signals rang out through the mothership as Jackalope felt the quake. “What the hell!?” He exclaimed, swiftly moving to gather the decently sized vial of the bright blue potion he was incredibly proud of._

_He ran to the command deck. In front of the ship was their planet, currently being slowly consumed by growing blackness. “W-what is that?” He demanded one of the operators._

_“Fearlings!” The pooka replied hastily._

_Jackalope watched in horror as the planet was slowly being invaded by the increasing black mass, mind racing. His family was there. He hadn’t even got to contact them. The idea came in so sudden that he felt like bursting._

_“Jackalope! Jackalope!” Aster crashed into him. “You okay!?”_

_Jackalope grimaced. “M-my family…” He started shaking, his throat tightening up. It was becoming hard to breathe._

_“Damn it,” Aster held him close against his chest as he brought him to the corner of the deck. “Come on, breath with me, okay?”_

_Jackalope gasped for air before nodding. He followed Aster, feeling both of their chests moving in sync. A few seconds, which felt like minutes, passed before he finally calmed down._

_“T-thanks…” Jack grunted out. “All right, make peace with it.” He muttered to himself._

_“Come on, they’re breaching in. We have to evacuate,” Aster pulled him up. “It won’t be long until the ship’s barrier runs out of energy.”_

_Jackalope nodded as he let Aster escort him. The evacuation was at the bottom of the ship, meaning they had a long way ahead of them._

_Another shake raked through the ship, making them both stumbled into the walls. “Shit, they might have already broken in,” Aster exclaimed. He reached into his pocket and brought out a boomerang with a growing symbol on it. “Stay close to me alright?”_

_Jackalope kept their distance as close as possible as they cautiously made their way down to the evacuation dock. On the way, they had to pass the middle deck that was the most massive open area of the ship yet. The chance of them encountering enemies there was no doubt guaranteed._

_As they came close to the middle deck, they could hear the clanking of weapons and monstrous screeches. “Someone’s fighting, we’ve gotta help them,” Aster sped up._

_They ran into the open middle deck of the ship, finding the commander brandishing her club against a tall, black figure who wielded a black sword._

_“Kosmotis, you fucking traitor!” She swore as their weapons struck. “How long have you been planning this, huh!?”_

_“Darling, I haven’t been planning anything,” The black figure chuckled darkly. “They merely opened my eyes.”_

_Jackalope recognized the figure as the head commander Kosmotis Pitchiner. He gasped out, startled as the sword struck her on the side. Aster didn’t waste any time flinging his boomerang to knock the sword away before it could finish her._

_“Argh…” Kosmotis groaned out with annoyance as he noticed them. “You guys can’t just die, can you?” He waved his hand and two Fearlings materialized from the floor. “Kill them.”_

_Jackalope moved before he could think, grabbing Commander out of the way before one of the Fearlings got her. It flew over their heads and landed ungracefully on the floor._

_“Pyrefrost? What are you doing here? Go to the evac!” She demanded before coughing up blood, her side was bleeding rapidly. Despite her wound, she stood up and quickly batted the lunging Fearling in the head. That did the job. One another one was already heading their way._

_Aster was fighting with Kosmotis, his growing imprint shone the weapon it was embedded on deflected Kosmotis’s sword. “Your mere magical symbol won’t hold for long, pooka!” Kosmotis declared as their weapons met. “It’s a matter of time before you’re rendered useless!”_

_Jackalope got shoved away as his commander thrust the blunt of her club against the Fearling, knocking it away a few feet. She gritted her teeth as her free hand clutched her side. “Commander!” He shouted as the Fearling ran back at her, its claw raising._

_Stabbed in the chest she got as she put all her forces into her last swing, the club bashed into the Fearling’s head, obliterating it in an instance. “Run! Go!” She bellowed angrily at him as her form weakened._

_Jack turned to Aster who was still moving swiftly around Kosmotis, his boomerang cutting into the traitor’s armor. Although Aster seemed to be winning, Jack could detect how Aster was struggling to jump from one spot to another._

_He had to help him. Jackalope’s hand found the vial of the strengthening potion he made. Clutching it firmly in his hand, he grabbed another vial of whatever potion from his belt before pitching it at Kosmotis, hitting him on the head. “Oof-” It didn't break, however._

_“Catch!” He tossed Aster the potion._

_Snatching the potion in the air, Aster unsealed it and gulped all the product down. His pupils dilated as his muscles tensed, the symbol on his weapon crackled with lightning as he rushed back into the fight._

_“ArgghhhH!!” Kosmotis brandished his sword against the boomerang. “Stop being persistent!” He deflected another blow before quickly waving his hand at Jackalope, materializing another Fearling right in front of him._

_“Shit-” Jackalope yelped as it pinned him down, claws digging into his shoulders and arms._

_Aster was tackling the Fearling away before Jackalope could comprehend anything. He quickly scrambled away from both of them as the Fearling swung around mindlessly. “A-aster!” He called out as Aster was struck and flung across the dock._

_Hitting the floor, Aster abruptly got up and turned around to block Kosmotis’s swing. The force rammed him down to the floor once again, gritting his teeth as the black sword pushed against his boomerang. Kosmotis had got him locked down._

_Jackalope ran to them with the Fearling chasing his tail, throwing himself at Kosmotis with a strike to the face. The Fearling sloppily crashed into them, flinging them off Aster._

_Tears welled up in his eyes, Jackalope cried out as the Fearling embedded its fangs into his leg. Kosmotis stood up from the floor, glaring at him. “You go first then,” Kosmotis raised his sword at Jackalope who had been incapacitated._

_Before he could finish off Jackalope, Aster hurled his boomerang at him, embedding it into his back. The traitor cried out as he clutched the boomerang and wrenched it out, turning his attention to Aster who was rushing at him. Pitching it to the side, he readied his sword to block the kick coming his way._

_Using his other foot to kick it in the face, Jackalope struggled against the jaws of the dark beast. His hands fumbled with the potions on his belt, randomly picking one out and throwing it against the Fearling. It shattered as it hit the Fearling, all of the liquid landed on the beast._

_Several mushrooms start growing on the beast’s skin, causing it to howl out in pain. Once let go, Jackalope quickly scrambled away from the beast as it lashed out mindlessly. Looking over the Fearling, he saw Aster delivering a punch to Kosmotis stomach, his boomerang a few feet away from him._

_Jackalope tried to stand up, gritting his teeth as pain flared up from the bite wound on his leg. He almost fell over as he got on his two feet._

_Kosmotis blocked Aster once again and knocked him away. “Enough with this game…” Jackalope watched as several more Fearlings started to materialize on the deck._

_“Shit!” Aster swiftly rushed to Jackalope and snatched him up._

_Jackalope was carried over Aster’s shoulder as he rushed into the hallway leading to the evacuation dock. He hissed as his wound was pressed against every step Aster took. “S-sorry!” He heard Aster apologizing._

_“Shit! Just- Keep going!” Jack watched as a mass of Fearlings tore down the hallway, hunting them._

_Reaching the evacuation dock, Aster promptly went to one of the evac pods and pressed some commands into the console. “It’s designed for individual evacuation. I’ll have to take another one.” Aster threw Jackalope into the pod as it opened up. The inside was so small it could crush both of them once the door closed._

_“A-aster!” Jackalope called out, but the pod quickly shut the door as he was seated. Everything was dark until the system started to operate, Jackalope tried to listen to the outside but he barely heard anything._

_Biting his lips, he felt another panic coming up. “A-aster!?” He choked out as he felt his body seized up. He couldn’t do anything as he stared at the sealed door, his breathing irregular and short._

_Despite being surrounded by bright lights from the operating system, Jackalope felt as if he was in the dark. Tears filled his eyes and wet his cheeks as he sat in the chair silently, panic rising in his chest without any source of comfort to banish it away._

_The pain in his leg could never compare to the pain of losing his long-time companion._

* * *

Waking up after all of that was the worst.

The scenes replayed over and over in his head, Jack clutched the case close, despite feeling little to no consolation from it. Suffering from the panic, guilt, and pain in the unbelievably tangible dream, Jack felt the suffocation alike to when he fell into the pond. Rubbing his eyes as tears welled up again, Jack inhaled sharply before letting out a deep sigh.

“It’s in the past. You’re here now- I’m here now.” Jack tried telling himself. “Everyone is here for me now.”

Maybe, he was rushing it. It had only been three nights but he already had too much to take in. His throat felt parched as he chanted out another comfort to himself. “Aster is here. You’re here- I’m here.”

Jack felt conflicted between his two identities. One was a traumatized pooka, and another was an easygoing energetic winter spirit. How did this kind of thing work? How should he work this out by himself?

Should he change back now? Back to Jackalope? But, he didn’t feel like Jackalope. All he could remember about being Jackalope were guilt, panic, and pain. He didn’t want to suffer those things; however, he was feeling them now. He was still Jackalope, except for less happy memories. In fact, he was feeling the identical thing he felt in the dream at the moment. He needed Aster. He required him more than anything right now. His comforts, his scent, and his presence.

Every guardian knew Aster, aside from seeing kids searching for his chocolate eggs, wanted to see another of his kind more than anything. Keeping things from Aster made him feel so selfish, and he knew at heart the anger Aster would feel towards him if the guy were to know on his own.

But the problem was that he wasn’t the Jackalope he used to be. Well, Jack Frost was relatively similar to Jackalope; however, he barely felt like being fun at this moment. Had he lost his center? Probably not. He was only being overly depressed with a lot on his mind at the moment. 

Jack apparently had been sitting on the bed for too long as he started feeling the ache in his bum. Getting out of bed, he tried to make himself as presentable as he can before leaving the room, not forgetting to bring his staff.

What should he do now? He didn’t feel like doing anything. His day was ruined even before he woke up. Jack thought back to the dreams once again as he peered up at the monumental believer globe in the room.

“Don’t mess it up, you hear me!?” Bunny strolled out of North's office, yelling over his shoulder as he slammed the door close. Jack, too distracted by the overwhelming number of dreams playing in his head, could not perceive anything from his surroundings until he felt a tap on his shoulder.

Flinching slightly at the touch, Jack whirled around to find Ast- Bunny. “You okay there, Frostbite?”

Jack had to hold himself back from lunging forward and wrapping the grey pooka in a longing hug, reminding himself that he was not Jackalope right now. 

Well, Aster had survived and he probably had forgotten about Jackalope. Based on his assumption, Aster had arrived at the Earth much earlier than him. He probably had given up long before Jackalope arrived because their devices did not connect.

"Hey!" Bunny was shaking him, both his hands grasping Jack's shoulders.

"A-" He let out. "S-sorry. You were saying?"

"Okay, spill it. What's wrong with you?" Bunny said as he let go of Jack.

Blinking innocently, Jack offered him a wan smile. "Nothing, really. Just dreams." That was not the whole truth, and that was all he would let known to the grey pooka.

"Dreams about what?"

"Cut it out already. I'll be fine," Jack snapped. "Why would you care anyway?"

Brunny’s eyes twitched slightly. "Jack, even though we have an unsolved conflict. I still care about you," He said, sighing. "Were you having nightmares? Like, regular nightmares. Not pitch nightmares."

Jack averted his eyes, clutching his staff close. Was he being uncomfortable around Aster now? "Sort of, I guess," He reluctantly replied.

Bunny nodded in acknowledgment. "Well, wanna talk about it? Heard it helps." 

"It's personal."

Bunny gave him an unimpressed look, crossing his arms. "Fine. But, you being this quiet is abnormal. Shouldn't you let the others know? What about your job? Don't you think it'll affect anything?"

Oh yeah, he thought he had lost the memory of how much of an insufferable babysitter Aster could be when he was concerned as well. Though, a part of him felt pleasant, knowing that Aster cared about him.

"I'll be fine, Bun," Jack said. "Besides, it's not like I'm the only winter spirit who has to deliver winter. A secondary job, you could say. My primary job is to bring snow days and such for the children."

The grey pooka looked thoughtful. "Right, fun is your center."

Perhaps, he could talk about his dreams to Bunny after he recollected everything. "You know what? I'll tell you when it's the right time." Jack chuckled at the bewildered expression on Bunny. "Don't get too comfortable. I'm gonna go back to being insufferable in a few days."

Rolling his eyes, Bunny grunted out. "Whatever, Jack. Whatever."

Silence fell between them as the conversation ended. Jack got back to peering up at the globe and making assumptions from his dreams. From the corner of his eyes, he still could see Bunny shuffling awkwardly as he observed Jack's odd behavior.

Feeling obligated to say something, Jack turned to Bunny. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Well, uhh... yes," Bunny stammered. "Um… see you on Christmas then."

Jack watched as Bunny quickly bounded out of the workshop. With the pooka’s word occupying his mind, Jack wondered why he had to meet him on Christmas. Was anything special going to happen on that day?

"Ah! Jack!" He turned to the one and only boisterous person in the workshop.

"Hey, good morning?" Jack said.

North laughed heartily. "A bit late for a good morning! Good sleep?" He asked, taking in Jack's lightly ruffled form.

"Unpleasant dreams and memories popped up," Jack said. "I guess I have to put up with it for a while."

The Cossack gave him an understanding look. "You can come to us for help, alright?" 

"Alright," Jack nodded, then he recalled the recent conversation with Bunny. "Anyway, is there something happening on Christmas? Bunny told me he would see me on the day."

"Oh yeah, you don't know yet." North suddenly looked a bit guilty. "We customarily hold a Christmas celebration at this workshop. Many spirits are invited to the party."

"Oh…" He trailed off. "So, it's just a party huh?"

"There are gifts as well!" North boomed almost too excitedly. "Some spirits bring multiple gifts for everyone. However, some only bring a few for their friends. This will be your first-time giving gifts, right?"

Jack suddenly realized he had never given a gift to anyone before. "Do I have to?" He started to feel a bit guilty because he hadn't prepared anything for anyone. Not like he befriended many spirits, or even acquainted with anyone much. The people he only ever had so much acquaintance with were the guardians and his first believers. Despite that, he didn't really know what to get for them.

"Nope! Only if you want to, do not feel obliged about it," The cossack patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. "What's important is you do it with love." He pointed at Jack's heart.

"Love?" Jack placed his hand on his chest where his frozen heart was located. "So, I should give my gift to my loved ones?"

"Not necessarily every loved one," North said. "Love is the greatest thing one could give. Gifts or presents on the other hand are merely bonuses. As I said, don't feel obliged to do it. It would make the concept of Christmas meaningless with all the extravagant and favorable gifts."

Jack thought of Aster for a second there. "I love you guys, but there's one person I want to give my gift to," Jack said, smiling a little at the idea.

"That's great!" North notably had a mischievous glint in his eyes. _That was illegal. Only Jack could do that._ "I think I may know who it is, but I won't ruin the surprise!"

Did he now? Jack shrugged it off, not wanting to delve into that.

He had decided to change back on Christmas day. Telling everything to Aster he was determined to go through with. He had been in pain, remembering, and experiencing everything once again. And he needed Aster.

He just hoped that Aster needed him back.

* * *

The nights after were filled with both pleasant and bitter dreams and memories. Jack tended to mostly hold onto the pleasant memories and let go of the terrible ones when he woke up in the morning.

There was this one time Jackalope and Aster fell and almost kissed, their muzzles only a few centimeters apart. Jackalope had been hopeful and embarrassed at the same time, thought, mostly embarrassed because it happened in the hall where everyone could see.

He started to remember how to be the Jackalope before being forced into the military. A hardworking, nerdy alchemy student who loved to play cards and blow up the university's labs. All the fun it had been for him before everything went down the hill.

Jack also remembered Jackalope's family. He was an only child. His mother and father were both doctors. He grew up with science and health being taught to him every day. He had a dream to become an alchemist in the health field, aiming to cure the worst of wounds with just a potion.

He never really had the chance to follow that dream. He involuntarily lost that dream when he went to the military.

As Jack Frost, he possessed so much freedom. With his memories coming back, he felt like he had to get used to being free again. It felt bizarre. Having to get used to freedom after possessing it for more than three hundred years.

Perhaps, that was what concerned him the most. He still felt conflicted when he thought of himself as Jackalope but started doing Jack Frost kind of things like being emotional and carefree.

How could he be… the most emotional and the most rational at the same time? Jack Frost was habitually the guy with the heart, but Jackalope was the guy with the brain. However, he had to admit that Jackalope had gone through a lot of changes during his stay in the military. Jackalope had become so much more emotional, but he still retained rational thinking.

After meeting Mary, Jackalope almost did one-eighty in his thought process, being more emotional as the eldest brother of three adoptive siblings.

As of now, the disorderly recollection of his memories was messing up his ability to recognize his personality. One might think he could just choose to go with one, but it felt so much more complicated than that. He told himself Jackalope and Jack were just the same people as if it could help. That, he could accept. It wasn't that hard after a while of dreaming as Jackalope and experiencing everything once again.

Christmas was coming close. Tomorrow, in fact. He did not have the chance to tell anyone about the conflict he was facing and get help. But, _well_ , he could just go with the emotional Jack Frost like usual, despite how conflicted he felt.

Besides, he had a gift for Aster tomorrow. There was no backing out now.

* * *

Jack double-checked his plan, looking at the alchemist clothing, the potion belt, and the reversal vial. "Alrighty, everything's ready." He sang quietly to himself.

The excitement was what he felt when he fled his room and entered the party. He scanned around, observing several spirits talking casually to one another. He spotted Tooth talking actively with a group in one corner of the workshop.

Jack also found Sandy conversing with someone who also used images and shapes to communicate. How they seemed to be understanding each other was a bit overwhelming. North was still out there delivering gifts. The Easter Bunny was nowhere to be seen. 

Seeing two people in the team having so much interaction with other spirits made Jack suddenly feel out of place. He knew some of the spirits presented here, especially those of winter, but he had never talked with them.

Wow. Okay. Maybe, he was indeed worse than Aster at socializing. He was even worse than when he was the alchemy student Jackalope.

What could he say? As Jack Frost, he woke up with no memories and no one to guide him into the world of spirits. He spent most of his time, for the past three hundred years, observing humans making history for themselves. Of course, he had annoyed the yetis in the workshop multiple times, but that didn't count. This year was presumably the most eventful for him. Becoming a guardian. Gaining believers. Retrieving his memories.

"Oh look! It's Jack Frost!" Someone shouted out from the crowd. Well, getting recognized was up there in the list of the eventful year.

Jack looked over to the voice, seeing that it came from the group Tooth was talking to. The Tooth Fairy gestured for him to join her and Jack would be rude if he didn't comply.

Joining the circle of the group, he waved sheepishly at the spirits around him. "Hey…"

"Jack, these are my friends! Artemis, Cupid, and Nezha." She gestured to all of them so quickly that one might be confused if not for the unique appearances each of them presented.

"Leave us something to talk about, will you?" Cupid grumbled at her before extending his hand to Jack. "Hi, Jack Frost. You probably know about me. Heard you become a guardian, congrats my man."

Cupid was in a toga with a purple stripe, and adorning his blonde curly locks was a crown of laurel. He was basically an image of an Ancient Roman senator. Strapped on his back were a bow and a quiver filled with a few arrows.

Jack shook hands with Cupid, tilting his head at the additional word. "Your man?"

Cupid laughed out loud at his question. Artemis cleared her throat, looking amusedly at Jack as she spoke. "He means friends. Anyway, I'm Artemis, goddess of hunts, wild animals, and a few more things."

Artemis' attire, despite being one of the most ancient here, was nothing but a modest leather jacket and jeans with her raven hair tied into a bun. Strapped on her back was a bow like that of Cupid, but a lot bigger, however.

Slightly surprised by the introduction, Jack had thought Greek Gods were just a myth. Well, everyone here was essentially a myth in some ways. "Uh, yeah, hi," he stammered out, cheeks reddening in embarrassment.

"I'm Nezha, it's nice to meet you, Jack Frost." Nezha bowed a bit at him.

Feeling awkward by being bowed at, Jack stammered out. "Um… nice to meet you too."

Nezha's outfit was something Jack had never seen before. He was wearing one hell of full-body armor aligning in gold stripes, and behind his back was what seemed to be a spear designed for swiping instead of thrusting.

"So, wanna tell us your tale?" Cupid asked him expectantly.

Oh well, it wasn't like he was in a hurry. Aster probably would turn up much later anyway.

* * *

The five found themselves sitting around one of the numerous tables, attentively listening to the winter spirit's story. Jack started to feel comfortable talking to these new people as he told them about how he became the fifth guardian.

"Hoo~ You guys had it rough this year huh?" Artemis said after Jack finished telling them of how he came to be a guardian. 

"Yes, but all thanks to Jack!" Tooth clasped her hand on Jack's shoulder.

Cupid chucked another shot of his drink before speaking. "Can't imagine being invisible and with no memories. That's too scary!" He shuddered. 

"He managed," Nezha said, looking at Jack with a small bit of admiration. "You're very strong, Jack." 

Jack blushed slightly at the compliment. "W-well, we wouldn't have succeeded without all of us," he told them.

"Humble! I like it!" Cupid winked at him with a smirk.

"Cupid can be a bit too flirty. Don't take him seriously. He would already kiss you if he were serious." Artemis snorted. "Besides, he already has a girlfriend."

Jack looked around, trying to find a certain someone when North abruptly came up with his boisterous and hearty greeting. "Ho ho ho! Look what we have here, how's the party so far, Jack?”

Jack laughed slightly. "It's been great." Jack tried to look around again, finding a pair of familiar grey ears among a group of spring spirits. "Uh, anyway, Bunny said he wanted to meet me. I better get going before he gets grumpy."

"Go on, we'll be here until the party ends," Artemis replied before turning towards Cupid who was chucking down another drink. "Or until this guy knocks himself out."

Jack nodded and stood up from the chair. He made his way to Bunny who was sitting among the circle of spring spirits, drinking something from his cup as he absentmindedly listened to the conversation. From the look on his face, the guy seemed to be nearly bored to death and was hoping for a rescue.

He poked at Aster's shoulder gently. "Hey, Bun-Bun," Jack smirked in amusement at Bunny's reaction to the name.

"Man in the moon, not in front of other people, Frostbite," Bunny grumbled as the people laughed at the nickname. "Stop it, drongos!"

Jack waved at the spirits around the table and they waved back at him politely. He turned to Aster and giggled at his glowering. "Well, Bunny, you're always fun to mess with. And, wow, you're actually better at socializing than me."

Bunny gave him an irritated look, pointing at the guys with his thump. "These guys? They just pulled me in out of the blue. Don't even know 'em."

Jack looked at them. Some of them looked entertained, and some looked slightly hurt. Well, what a way to ruin the fun, Aster. Though, this moment was probably the best time to initiate his plan. "Well, I guess we're pretty much equally bad at socializing then." He hooked his arm around Aster's and pulled him up. "So, what's better than an unsociable person talking to another unsociable person? I'll borrow him for a while, guys," he told the others as he dragged Aster off.

Jack stopped as they reached one corner where he felt was the quietest and private as it could get. "You seem like you want to talk," Aster blurted out as Jack turned around.

Giving him a deadpan look, Jack rolled his eyes. "Duh, of course. And you said you wanted to meet me. So, here I am."

“I didn’t mean it like that...” Aster paused, realizing that he would still be stuck at that table if Jack didn’t come up to him. “You know what, fine. I did want to meet you. Now what?”

"Well- uh- so, I think it's time I tell you about them… my 'nightmares'." Jack made a quoting gesture. "They're not exactly nightmares or dreams, even though I still call them dreams in my head sometimes."

Bunny blinked at him, his ears turning to Jack attentively. "They're my memories. I've been receiving my past memories more and more the past few days. And they messed up with my mind quite a lot. I've come to make peace with most of them, but I think I'm still conflicted with how I act."

"How you act?" Bunny perked up at that.

Jack observed Bunny. He seemed to be a good listener, taking in every word Jack had to say to him. Of course, Jack knew Aster had always been a good listener. You only just had to be on his good side.

Jack cleared his throat. "Can you imagine remembering you were someone almost the opposite of who you are now?" Bunny shook his head. "That's what I've been experiencing. The memories came in so disorderly that I get confused about my personality."

Bunny grabbed both of his shoulders; concern plastered all over his face. "Do you need help?"

"We'll see." Jack gave him a modest smile which didn't seem to alleviate the pooka's concern. "Now, let me finish."

"This person, who I used to be, or still am, went through a lot of changes," Jack revealed. "Physically, even. I changed my shape to human and died being human."

"Wait, so you weren't even human? But, what were you before then? The only thing you can be other than human is a spirit, and that means you can't die…" Bunny trailed off confusedly, "Unless you gave up your immortality to become human which is known to be impossible."

Jack, despite feeling some tension, giggled amusedly at him. "Since when were you such a nerd?" That made Bunny let out a choked sound before he looked away in embarrassment.

He might as well go through with this now. "Well, how about I show you? Come on." Jack grasped his wrist and escorted him to his room.

Jack turned around to Aster after reaching his room. "Stay here until I say otherwise, I need to prepare." Receiving a nod in response, he proceeded into his room.

Closing the door behind him, Jack trudged to the bed where the potion sat. He picked up the potion and gulped as he opened the cap. The smell hitting his nose was so sweet that he was tempted to just gulp everything down. Inhaling deeply, he made up his mind. "Here goes nothing." He lifted the vial up and gulped the liquid down.

The taste was not terrible. It was just so sickeningly sweet that he felt like consuming gallons of water afterward. A pulse raking through his body made him gasped out in surprise and let go of the vial. Jack grabbed the edge of his bed as he felt his legs gave away.

The change took place in seconds. It was painless but tingly as hell. Letting out weak laughter as he reverted to his original form. The tingly sensation dispersed after a few seconds of the process, making him sigh out in exhaustion from laughing too much.

Pushing himself up from the floor, he lifted his hoodie up and looked down at his form. He spotted snow-white fur and striped markings running along his hips and both sides. _What the hell- Oh, right, Manny bleached my hair white. Guess that carries over to my original form..._

Kicking off his worn-out deer-skin pants and taking off his hoodie, Jack, now Jackalope, grabbed his old attire and started putting them on. Jackalope brushed at his sleeves and adjusted the tailcoat for his form. "I got thinner?" He twisted around to make the clothes fit him, looking down at his form. “Yup, I got thinner.”

He strapped the belt around his waist, pulling it tighter than he was used to. Well, being with the Overland was not exactly alike to when he was with the military. He did lose some weight and muscles during his stay in this world. Double-checking himself, Jack let out an approving grunt. “Look good enough. I still should ask North for a mirror though.”

“Jack? You okay in there?” He heard Aster speaking at the door.

This was it. Jackalope gulped as he prepared himself mentally. “I’m okay. You can come in.”

Aster pushed the door open before stopping abruptly as he spotted Jackalope in the room. “Close the door.” Jack ushered him in, pulling the now stunned Aster into the room completely before closing his door.

Aster’s gaze followed him, his breath coming out unevenly. “Bunny?” Jackalope observed him with a concerned look. “Heyyyy?” He waved his paws in front of the other pooka.

Bunny closed his eyes and breathed in deeply before letting out a sigh, calming down his nerves. “Okay, is this a prank?” Bunny gave him a disapproving frown.

“What-“

“Because I’m totally offended by this. I’m trying to be calm here, Jack Frost.” Aster’s glare made him feel a bit uneasy.

“No!” Jackalope refused, grabbing the vial on the ground. “Here! It’s a reversal potion! I studied it in the first semester in Hellene University!” Aster’s ears fell back at the mention of the university they went to.

“Y-you could have gone to Father Time. Your proof doesn’t mean anything.” Aster turned away from him, anger and uncertainty bubbling up in his chest as he refused to believe. “I’m sorry Jack. But this- this is out of the line.”

“Oh, for the sake of-“ Jackalope pulled at his ears in frustration. Thinking swiftly, he could risk revealing who he was to Aster. But if the guy didn’t believe him, it could sever their relationship. He could try to ease Aster into listening with words, but that would only work if Aster had enough patience with him. He might as well use some force to make Aster listen.

“Look, Bunny.” Jackalope grabbed Aster’s forearms, turning the taller pooka to face him. He looked at the grey pooka intensely, grounding out. “I need you to listen before you assume anything, okay? This is important for both of us. If you won’t listen, I might have to freeze you to the ground here.”

Bunny, upon hearing the tone of Jack’s voice, seemed to be a little convinced. “Okay, you better have a good explanation for all of this.”

Jackalope loosened his grips on the other pooka, still holding onto him. “Before I start, please know that I wouldn’t go so far as this to prank on you. Father Time is not involved in this, except for the other guardians. And it’s up to you to believe me or not after hearing what I have to say. I’m talking with reasons here and I hope you do the same.”

Bewildered and convinced by how rational Jack was being, Aster nodded in agreement. “Shall we sit then?”

Jackalope nodded and led the other to the bed, sitting down beside each other. “So... I arrived here about three hundred years ago and I couldn’t find anyone with the searching device. I gave up and changed my shape using the shape shifting potion. Got adopted into a family right after I changed.” Jackalope took a deep breathe, preparing to retell the memory of his death. “It was close to spring when my adoptive sister and I went skating. The thin ice broke, and I died saving my sister.”

Aster’s eyes widen at the mention of time. He gave up on finding others long before Jack arrived, so Jack’s statement carried some weight. Though, what was more important was his identity before Manny turned him into Jack Frost. “Who were you then?”

Jackalope sighed out. “That is the hard part for me to tell. I’m afraid you would be mad at me if I even say my full name.”

“I’ll try not to. I agreed to your terms after all.”

“Starting with what I do then,” Jackalope said. “I was an alchemy student in Hellene University. Four semesters into the course, I got recruited into the military to help with the potion which had a severe mental disruption.” Jackalope paused as Aster turned to him with a surprised look.

“Y-you were recruited? But I hadn’t seen you even once...”

“Oh, you had seen me. Quite often too.” Jackalope gave him a small smile. “You see... there was only one alchemy student recruited into the military that year. I wanted to ease you into the... the whole thing, really. But you seem to be catching up quite fast.” Jackalope poked at Aster’s chest. “It was quite a surprise when the memories came back. I remembered seeing you in the majority of them. I remembered being your friend. And then I remembered being a son of two doctors in the countryside.”

Jackalope looked at him in the eyes. “I remembered being a pooka named Jackalope Pyrefrost.” Looking at the grey pooka’s shocked reaction, Jackalope couldn’t help but feel anxious for what would come next. “Uh... do you believe me?”

Aster looked down, his expression holding almost every emotion one could express. “H-how? But... no. You weren’t this white...”

“Manny changed the color of my hair. I guess that’s the same for my fur.” Jackalope looked at his white paws, wriggling his fingers. He turned towards Aster who was inspecting him with less bewilderment and more suspicion. “Why don’t you ask me some questions if you’re still on the fence then?”

Aster contemplated the idea. “Alright... what was the first symbol I used in practical class?” He asked.

Jackalope smirked. “Shrink, the symbol used for exactly what it sounds like. You were so excited to tell me of it, using it on different things to show off to me.” He grimaced slightly. “And you accidentally used it on me.”

Aster looked away in embarrassment before collecting himself. He needed more proofs. “Who was the pooka who brought all the materials for your experiment to you?”

Jackalope flinched at that question. Seeing her being taken away and not knowing what would happen to her broke his heart. Although he had made peace with it, it still made him feel sad and guilty. “Her name was Elle Honeydrop. She was arrested seven days later. The day we got the notice to transfer to the mothership.” He replied quietly, his mood going dull. He wasn’t expecting that question.

Noticing Jack’s distress, Aster moved to the milder question. “When was my birthday?”

“Tenth of the spring month.” Jackalope automatically answered. “And mine was on the first of the winter month, in case you need more proof.”

Aster nodded, looking almost convinced with the lack of suspicion in his eyes. “Last question, who was my first crush?”

“I never know you had a crush on someone because you’ve never told me.” Jackalope laughed a little. From the look that flashed in his eyes, Jackalope knew he had convinced Aster to believe him. He knew that look very well, having been the observant one between the two of them.

He watched as Aster slowly reached out for him and touched him on his cheek. Jackalope grabbed the paw and rubbed his cheek into it. “I miss you...” He said. “I’m sorry it takes me this long to come back to you.”

Aster let out a sob as the anger he was holding back turned into utmost happiness. He pulled Jackalope into a strangling embrace as he sobbed against the white pooka’s shoulder. “I’m sorry... I-“ Aster paused, sobbing again. “I gave up on finding you...”

Jackalope hugged him, running down the other pooka’s back in a soothing manner. “Hey, it’s okay! We’re both here now, aren’t we? Just let it go, Aster.”

“But, on Easter Sunday ’68,” Aster mumbled into his shoulder. “I hurt you...” Hurt was an understatement, but Jackalope had already moved past the grudge long ago. He thought it would be fun to give some challenge to the kids, but he couldn’t control the scale of his power and brought a blizzard upon the small town. Aster was infuriated at him and took it out on him. He would be lying if he said he didn’t fear the pooka afterward.

“I admit I held grudges against you for a couple decades, but I moved past it,” Jackalope said. “I did go overboard with my snow, so you have the right to take out your anger on me.”

“What?” Aster pulled back, looking at him with disbelieve in his eyes. “No! It’s not right for me to harm you! I- I should’ve asked for your reasons!”

Jackalope’s brows furrowed. “Look, I forgive you, and you should also forgive yourself. There’s nothing we can do about it other than accepting the mistakes we did in the past.”

Aster took a while to finally nod in agreement. “Okay, so- uh... you talked about how you act earlier? I think I kind of get it now.”

“Oh yeah.” Jackalope perked up. “My memories came back quite disorderly, and I went through a lot in a short period. I might have trouble being both Jack Frost and Jackalope.”

“Who do you feel like being the most then?” Aster asked. “Maybe it can help.”

Jackalope’s shoulders fell as he let out a sigh. “That’s the thing. I feel conflicted when I try to be only one at a time. I might as well be a mix of the two. I think I just need more time.”

“Well, you have forever for it,” Aster told him, grinning softly. “I’ll help you go through it.”

Jack grinned back. Now that the identity reveal was finished, he might as well move to the next part. The part he had been hesitant, but he decided he should get it done in the end. “Thanks. And, uh...” Jackalope reached his Aster’s paws and held them in his hands. “Aster, I... after getting some of my memories back, I regretted a lot of things. But this one was probably the biggest one yet. I should’ve told you a lot sooner, like even before we got into university...”

Aster’s expression held eagerness to know what he had to say, and concern for the white pooka. “What is it?”

“I regret not being brave enough to tell you that I love you.” Jackalope looked away shyly. “I had a crush on you in high school. It grew into love when we joined the military. You were always there for me when I had to go through hardship. Your presence brings me comfort, I wouldn’t have gone through all of that if you hadn’t been there.”

Jackalope glanced at the grey pooka, spotting a grin on his lips. “T-that’s all. What you’ll do with that is up to you.” Letting go out the other’s paws, he let out a surprised sound as Aster reached for his paws.

“Jackalope.” Aster chuckled. “Well, this is surprising. I also had a crush on you in high school. But, as you said, I have never told you. I was afraid being in a relationship would affect your work, so I didn’t say anything. And I love you too. I like how more rational you are comparing to me, and how you hold me back from doing stupid things. Being with you gives me a satisfaction I didn’t know I needed until we separated for thousands of years.”

Feeling his jaws dropped at the confession, Jackalope felt a laugh slipping out of his lips as a realization came upon him. “And I thought I could read you well...” He laughed as let himself fell to the bed, dragging Aster down with him.

“How old are we again? It takes thousands of years to finally confess!” Aster laughed along.

They calmed down after a bit, staring into each other’s eyes. Jackalope had seen them so many times before, but this time was so different. “Your eyes are so beautiful,” He said,

“I can say the same for yours.” Aster chuckled. “So, now that we’ve talked. Do you want to go back to the party or go to the warren?”

Jackalope hummed, thinking. “I need to let the other guardians know about this as they have been of great helps. And don’t you want the tea blend from Tooth? I think she brought some.”

“Right.” Aster got up from the bed.

Jackalope sat up and looked at the other pooka up and down. “Now that I think about it, why aren’t you wearing any clothing? I thought you liked fashion because, you know, art.”

“Well, it’s not like people could see anything embarrassing. And I can move a lot quicker through my tunnels without clothes hindering me.” Aster looked down at himself, feeling a bit self-conscious by Jackalope’s gaze and the fact he was the one without any legitimate clothing. The straps weren’t really clothing to him.

“Guess your ‘fashion’ changed huh?” Jackalope hopped off the bed. “Should I take my clothes off as well? Don’t wanna make you look like the odd one, or is it vice versa?”

“It’s fine. Just be yourself, Jackalope.” Aster opened the door for him as led him out of the room.

As soon as Aster led him into the party, several gazes and eyes were on him, as well as voices of questions and inquiries of who he was. The feeling of self-consciousness grew heavy in his chest as Jackalope tried to keep a comfortable expression, focusing on the path Aster was leading him on. Aster brought him to the food stand where there were several sweet treats and cookies.

Jackalope raised a brow as Aster turned back to him with an expectant look. “What?” He asked.

“Don’t you like cookies? Ah, so you haven’t retrieved everything? Well, you loved eating all kinds of cookies.” Aster gave him a small smile before picking up one from the trays and offered it to him. “I forced you into a gym club because you were gaining weight with all those cookies.”

“Oh... oh yeah. That time,” Jackalope thought of the memory of when he was begging Aster to not force him into the gym.

“Yes, and I’m making you eat now.” Aster waved the cookie in front of Jack’s face.

With a coy look crossing his face, Jackalope hummed in response and ate right from Aster’s offering paw. He held it in his mouth as he watched Aster sputtered and retracted his hand, his ears falling in embarrassment. Jack smirked as he reached up to catch the cookie before biting down. “Ish whut coople do,” Jack said with half of his mouth full, munching on the cookie.

The cookie was good. Of course, he had eaten several of North’s cookies for guests before, but this was freshly baked, and its warmth just sat right with his taste bud. Vanilla and buttery scent combining as he munched on it, his voice of approval urged Aster to grab one from the trays as well.

“Bunny! How is the party, my friend? And who is this beautiful lady?” North appeared out of nowhere, clapping Bunny on the back. “I see you’ve finally found another of your kind eh?”

“North, again with the hearty slaps,” Bunny grumbled at him, straightening his back. “The party is alright. Also, it’s more like he found me, and he’s Jack. Our Jack. Jack Frost.”

“Yo! North!” Jackalope waved at him, beaming with coyness and resting his staff on his shoulder in a very Jack frost manner.

North’s jaw dropped a little bit before he collected him. Stroking his beard as he stared at Jack with curiosity, he looked at the white pooka up and down. “What caused this?”

Shrugging, he replied shortly. “I remembered being a pooka before changing my shape to human and died. I simply changed back a few minutes ago,” He reached for another cookie on the trays and bit into it. “It appeared that I arrived on Earth at much later period and Aster had already given up on searching.”

North’s eyes were filled with wonder, well, more wonder than usual. “This is magnificent! So, you were actually dreaming about your memory eh?”

“Yup, thanks to you guys,” Jackalope offered him a grateful smile. “Still, my memory retrieval was all over the place.”

“Ah, I see,” North nodded at him. “Well! Tell me anything you need help with. Now please go enjoy the party. I still have to welcome the spirits around here!” North bounded off to a group of spirits after he said that.

Jackalope grabbed Aster on the wrist. “Hey, wanna join me at Tooth’s table? Or you wanna go back to your group?”

“They’re not my anything,” Aster grumbled under his breath and sighed. “Okay, I’ll join you.”

Jackalope grabbed a few more cookies and led Aster to the table where Tooth and her friends were occupying. “Tooth!” Jackalope notified her as he came near the table.

Tooth turned to him and gasped, surprised by the appearance of another pooka. “Jack? Is that you?”

Jack nodded and grabbed a seat for himself and Aster. “Hey guys, hope you don’t mind a change in appearance,” Jack told the others around the table who seemed too shocked to respond.

“Whoa, dude. What happened to you? You were gone only half an hour and now you’re back like this, like... this guy here,” Artemis looked pointedly at Aster. “You didn’t infect him with a bunny virus, did you?”

Aster glowered before sputtering out. “N-no! There isn’t even such a thing!”

“Now, now,” Jackalope said. “I have another story to tell. It’s about this.” Jack gestured to himself. He told them of how he had been having dreams about his memories and what he had planned. He left some details out for personal reasons, but it was an efficient explanation for them.

“...and I changed back a few minutes ago,” Jack finished, looking around the table. “Any question?”

“Me!” Cupid lifted his hand. “Are you two dating? I feel like you two are.” He offered Jackalope and Aster an amused look.

“Oh damn, they’re dating.” Artemis whistled. “Don’t try to hide it. He’s Cupid. He knows all the time.”

Tooth lightened up. “That’s great! Bunny won’t be so depressingly lonely now.” That made Bunny cringe visibly. “How did it happen anyway? Who confessed first?”

“I was lonely, but I wasn’t depressed,” Bunny argued. “And Jackalope confessed first.”

“Jackalope?”

“Oh, it’s my name. Jackalope Pyrefrost. I was Aster’s best friend, and now, his boyfriend.” Jack explained to her, grabbing one of the few cookies he had brought from the food stand before munching on it. “I had a crush on him since high school. And he had the same. Been holding myself back for too long, so I just got on with it.”

Aster cleared his throat. “We haven’t even kissed; in case you interpret it that way.”

“Someone should get a mistletoe for them...” Nezha said quietly, making others around the table, except for said couple, perked up with interest.

“Please no,” Aster and Jackalope protested at the same time.

“We will, eventually.” Jackalope touched his lips absentmindedly, thinking about how it would feel to kiss. Would it feel like ‘butterflies in your stomach’ like many of the romance fiction he used to read in middle school?

The group continued to interact as the party went on. Aster was quickly becoming one more addition to the small group of friends. He also got a jar of tea blend as a gift from Tooth. Sandy floated by and waved at them, noticing a new change with Jack. As a result, Jackalope had to tell the story once again to the sandman, a little disappointed by the lack of great reactions from his team.

“Aster, I wonder if you have anything I can use for brewing... I want to try and recreate some potions with the materials on Earth.” Jackalope wondered out after he told them of his occupation as an alchemist. “And I need to see your weapon imprints. I haven’t even seen it at work with my potions in a controlled environment. We’ll be having one hell of an experiment when we go to your warren.”

“W-what?” Aster stammered out, surprised by the way Jack suddenly picked up the topic. “I can get the equipment, but definitely not after we go back to the warren.”

Realizing he might be a bit too assertive, the white pooka’s cheeks heated up. “Oh... I see...”

“So, you guys were nerds?” Cupid asked, curious about the revelation.

“We were students forced into the military to contribute something,” Aster grumbled, seeming unhappy about the subject. “Gotta build and experiment all the time.”

Reaching for Aster’s paw under the table, Jack replied as they held hands in comfort. “Bad experience. But it doesn’t matter. We’re here now.”

He blushed as Aster gave him a grin and rubbed his chin against him softly, fluffy and soft feeling blooming in his chest as he nuzzled back. Squeals rang out from the friends around the table at the affectionate display.

* * *

It was around midnight when people gradually went back to their respective homes. Jackalope and Aster lingered around until the team assembled around the moon crystal again. Most of the attention was, of course, on the certain winter spirit, due to his changed appearance and attire. “So, Jack, do you want to tell us more about yourself?” Asked Santa Claus.

“Hm...” Jackalope contemplated. “Aster?” He turned to Aster.

“We might as well tell them everything,” Aster suggested. “Start with who you were first.”

“Okay...” Jackalope looked around the table. “So... yeah, my name before I became Jack Frost was Jackalope Pyrefrost. I was a son of two doctors, and I went to the same school, as well as university, as Aster. We were best friends, sticking together throughout the school years all the way to the m-military.” He stumbled a bit as he mentioned the worst part of his life.

“I’ll take it from here,” Aster spoke up after noticing Jack’s slight distress. “We were recruited into the military after we finished our second university year. Jackalope here was assigned to modify a dangerous strengthening potion, and I was assigned to the frontline armory to contribute weapon amplifying imprints. A year into the service, we were moved to the mothership where we were later ambushed by Pitch’s army of Fearlings.”

He reached for Jackalope’s paw, holding it reassuringly before he continued. “Jackalope escaped through the evacuation pod. I was cornered by the enemies when a being named Nightlight appeared and helped me defeat them. Then, I was brought to Earth and was made a spirit much earlier than his arrival.”

The other guardians nodded in acknowledgment after Aster finished his explanation. Jackalope decided to move on to the next topic. “My memory retrieval was not in chronological order and I went through a lot in a short period. I’m having issue with how I should be.”

“Will you be okay?” Tooth asked with concern lacing in her voice.

“With Aster, I think I can sort it out soon. I probably won’t be the same Jack Frost you guys know, a more rational being you could say.” Jackalope gave them an apologetic smile.

“We’ll be there for you every step, Jack- I can still call you Jack, right?” North asked.

“Of course, it’s not that different,” Jackalope said. “See it as a shortened name.”

Sandy raised his hands in eagerness, forming images of two pookas orbiting around a heart. North snorted and looked at the actual two pookas. “Yeah... we confessed our long-overdue feelings to each other.” Jackalope chuckled. “And, uh, North? How do you know?”

North laughed and patted his belly. “It’s a hunch I have! Though, you’ve never talked about love with anyone! So I just concluded a theory when you tell me you want to give someone a gift, adding the pooka memory you’re been having into the process.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet!” Tooth squealed.

Sheepish by the looks from the other guardians, Jackalope’s ears fell as he blushed.

The guardians talked for a few more minutes about the new year’s resolutions and plans. Jackalope and Aster had a lot to catch up for the next year, and they would be getting busy with their past occupations quite often.

* * *

Jackalope rested his head on Aster’s chest as they both cuddled up on the bed in Aster’s bedroom. He grunted out uncomfortably as he felt his clothing fold up when he pressed himself against the body under him. “These clothes are too big for me now.” He pushed himself up to take them off.

“As I said, you gotta eat more.” Aster reached for the belt around his waist, helping him take it off. “Your waist is even smaller than mine now.” He placed his hands around Jackalope’s waist, noticing how they could almost completely connect.

“Yes, sir,” Jackalope said, falling on the taller pooka before cuddled up to him. “Talking about eating, have you learned how to cook? I saw the kitchen.”

Aster chuckled. “I have. A bit thrilling at the start. And I almost burned myself.”

“At least you didn’t burn the food, right?” Jackalope asked, looking up at him in amusement.

“Well, I did, a few times...” Aster trailed off.

He let out a chuckle to that as he placed his head down on the other pooka’s chest, nuzzling into the fluff and feeling the beat of his heart. “I’m looking forward to tasting your food, Chef,” Jackalope sighed against his chest.

A comfortable silence filled the air as the two laid in their bed, cuddling up to each other for warmth and comfort. Hugging him close with one arm, Aster combed through Jackalope’s fluffy winter coat as Jackalope relaxed into his embrace. “So...” Aster began. “Do we kiss, or do you want to wait?”

Jackalope gave him an amused look. “What kind of question is that? I’m still Jack Frost, you know? I’m always up for something fun~.”

“G-guess you do,” Aster stammered as Jackalope moved up and locked their gazes. Breathing heavily as the winter spirit leaned closer, he closed his eyes as their lips touched before locking onto each other. Sweet, hearty, and prolonged the kiss was, with happiness and satisfaction blooming up in both of their chests. Both let out chuckles as they pull away for air, happiness reflecting in each other’s eyes.

Jackalope leaned down and rested his form on Aster’s, closing his eyes as he sighed out contently. Aster chuckled as he nuzzled against the other, letting the peaceful atmosphere filled the air alongside mutual happiness. Jackalope missed being close to Aster. He had missed the comforting presence of him, and he would never let him go anytime soon.

“You still have to tell your kids, right?” Aster spoke up after a while.

“Tell my kids...?” Jackalope perked up after a realization. “Oh yeah, I promised Jamie I would show him after I sort things out. Maybe that applies to the other kids as well, considering they probably have heard from Jamie.”

“Tomorrow?”

Jackalope hummed. “Nope, the earlier the better. Don’t wanna leave the kids hanging. Let me take some rest ”

* * *

It was a few hours later when Jackalope finally paid a visit to his favorite believer. Due to the time zone, it was still Christmas for the kids. Fortunate for him, he wouldn’t have to explain himself to Jamie why he hadn’t visited the kid after Christmas Day. Jackalope perched on the window ledge outside of Jamie’s room, seeing Mrs. Bennett kissing Jamie’s forehead goodnight before walking out of the room. Jackalope knocked on the window just as Jamie was about to tuck himself in.

Jamie had a startled expression on him when he turned to the noise and noticed the winter spirit. “Easter Bunny?” Jackalope heard him say.

Jackalope shook his head and tapped the window, letting his magical frost ran along the surface. “Jack!?” Jamie exclaimed in a hushed voice. He immediately scrambled out of his bed and unlocked the window for the winter spirit. “What happened to you?”

“Long story.” Jackalope hopped through the window, pulling down and smoothing out his tailcoat and undershirt. “Wanna sit?”

They both sat on Jamie’s bed with Jamie’s gaze not leaving him a second. “So,” Jackalope said. “Turned out I’ve always been like Bunny, a pooka. We came from a planet far away from here and got turned into spirits. Though I arrived here much later than him, thousands of years late to be exact.”

Jamie seemed to be digesting the information for a short moment. “Does that mean you’re an alien?” He asked.

Jackalope snorted. “I guess so. We were not different from human developmentally. Except for the technologies and military forces, I guess.”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t be able to come to Earth without a spaceship right?” Jamie said, excitement lacing in his voice.

“We could travel the space with spaceships, but I didn’t come here through a spaceship,” Jack said. “Evacuation pod, it’s probably buried somewhere in the forest. Though, it’s not important at the moment. Why Bunny and I came here is because, well, Pitch happened. We called him Kosmotis Pitchiner back then.”

“What happened after you arrived?” Jamie asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Bunny could have found you and saved you from drowning, couldn’t he?”

Jack couldn’t help the bitter smile that crept along his lips. “As I said, he arrived much earlier than me. He gave up on finding another of his kind long before my arrival. I also gave up and changed my shape into a human with a potion. I’m an alchemist, you see.”

“Does Bunny know?”

“Oh, he knows, alright. He cried when I revealed I was his best friend bleached white by the Man in the Moon.”

Jamie giggled. “Right, you told me you used to have brown hair. But you were his best friend? That’s a surprise.”

“We’ve been friends since high school.” Jack nodded. “And I might as well tell you now, so you don’t get weirded out later. We’re dating now. It turned out Bunny and I had crushes on each other since high school, but we were both too afraid to confess.”

“Oh... that’s great then! Congratulation!” Jamie said. “It’s almost like a childhood sweetheart love! But... how does that work?”

“Ah, yeah. Except we were teenagers.” Jackalope blushed a little bit. "Spirits don't care much about gender."

“Anyway, for the lore, what was your name before you became Jack Frost?”

“I was just gonna tell you that. Anyway, my full name is Jackalope Pyrefrost. I got adopted into the Overland family after changing my shape, but I never took their last name. So, basically speaking, Manny might have shortened my name and made me of winter to fit the name.” Jackalope shrugged before a realization came over him. “Wait, are you gonna put that on your blog?”

“Why not?” Jamie smirked. “It’s called character development... or is it rewriting?”

“I’m too old for this,” Jackalope grumbled. “Thank you, anyway, And uh... I kind of have to deal with personality problem. I was a different person as Jackalope Pyrefrost and remembering all of myself now confuses me a lot. I might not be as fun as I used to be, but I’ll try my best.” Jackalope turned away from Jamie, not wanting to see the disappointed face the kid might be making.

“Oh, Jack.” Jamie reached for his shoulder and forced him to turn around to face him. “Just be yourself. I don’t mind. Because you’ll still be the one and only Jack Frost there is. No one will ever be as fun as you as long as you stay true to yourself.”

“Okay, if you say so...” Jack trailed off, relieved by the statement. “What about other kids?”

“They’ll still love you all the same,” Jamie said before gaining a thoughtful look. “Might be even more, seeing how cute you look now.” Jamie poked his furry paw.

“Oh my...” Jackalope thought of the reactions from Sophie and Cupcake. Yeah, he would need to take a big breath before they could strangle him with hugs.

Jackalope and Jamie talked some more about the usual things like Jamie’s Christmas gifts and what activities he did with his friend. Happy that Jamie didn’t mind his absence for the past few days in the slightest, Jackalope made a promise to pay him a special visit the next year. The next ten minutes later, Jackalope told Jamie to go to sleep as he waved the kid goodbye, taking off to the warren.

* * *

“Whoa!” Jackalope looked at the shining dagger in his grip, feeling trembles raking through his nerves as he stopped for a breath. “That was crazy!” He exclaimed to the pooka on the hill.

“See? Your potion works just fine. It depends on the weapon wielder’s proficiency, if anything,” Aster said, coming down to take the dagger from his grip. “It takes some time to get used to when used alongside the speed imprint.”

“Well, yeah. That’s true.” Jackalope breathed out. “But that was so crazy! I’ve never moved that fast before, and that was only one drop! One drop! Aster!”

Chuckling at his enthusiasm, Aster sheathed the knife and pulled out a dropper containing a potion to nullify Jackalope’s strengthening potion. “Here you go. Don’t get addicted.”

Jackalope grabbed the dropper and squeezed the sweet potion into his mouth, feeling his nerves calming down as the power depleted. “I’m marking that a success.”

“Now that I think about it, you should practice fighting with something other than your staff.” Aster waved the sheathed knife at him. “So, you can protect yourself when your staff is knocked out of your hand.”

“Oh, come on.” Jackalope groaned before picking up a few vials of potion from his belt. “See these, they go kaboom! You know? I do have other ways to protect myself without my staff.”

Aster looked at the vials warily. “When did you even make... You know what, I don’t wanna know. Just keep them away from the eggs and me.”

“You have explosive imprinted eggs and you carry them around in your unorganized bag.” Jackalope gave him a deadpan look, poking at Aster’s chest.

Aster batted it off. “They’re different because they need my command to activate!”

“They still explode nonetheless,” Jackalope retorted.

“Gah! Whatever,” Aster grumbled.

They wrapped up all the equipment and tools after their recent experiment with Jackalope handling his chemical bottles and test tubes as Aster carried his gadgets and paints. “So... how are you doing with your personality?” Aster asked after they put away their respective items.

It had been a few weeks since Jackalope returned to his original form, and Easter Sunday was a few weeks away. Jackalope had been adjusting well to his new combined personality. It turned out to be an easy transition with Aster around to keep him in comfort. There were occasions during their experiments when he couldn’t help but let out his frustration unreasonably, but Aster was always there for him, however.

“I think I’ve been making good progress,” Jackalope said. “Being with you helps a lot, thanks.”

Aster gave him a grin, pulling Jackalope into a side hug. “You’re welcome. Now, why don’t we take a break? Wanna eat something?”

“Can I have sweets?” Jackalope looked at him with a hopeful look. At the furrowing expression Aster gave him, he added. “Pleeeaassse? It’s been a week since I had one.”

Aster, wavered by the look Jackalope was giving him, sighed audibly. “Alright, you can cheat today.” He told the white pooka. “But don’t go overboard. You’ll get upset stomach.”

“Yes! Thanks! I love you!” Jackalope kissed him on his cheek and bounded out of the equipment storage to their kitchen. _Their._ Jackalope practically made the warren his haunt at this point. Of course, he went back to his lake from time to time just to take care of the cleanliness in that area.

Aster followed him into the kitchen, finding Jackalope munching on his favorite cookies. He chuckled at how Jackalope’s cheeks bulged as he stuffed the cookies into his mouth. “Be careful. You might choke.” He reached up and smooth out the fur on Jackalope’s cheeks.

The white pooka swallowed before responding. “So, do you need any help preparing for Easter?” Jackalope asked.

“Of course, any help would be great.” Aster rubbed his chin. “Maybe... I could invite other guardians to help. Do favors for them like North did last Christmas.”

Thoughtful glint flashed in Jackalope’s eyes as an idea about Sandy’s version of chocolate egg came into his head. “Golden chocolate eggs? Yum.”

“Gold doesn’t even have a taste, Jackalope.” Aster deadpanned. “Trust me. It tastes like nothing. And humans only eat it for luxury.”

“Aww...” Jackalope pouted, a little disappointed. “Well, do you think North will add more sugar into the edible paint? He might even add chocolate chips onto the coating.”

Aster gave him a nod. “That sounds like a good idea, but-“ He said. “Try not to eat too much, okay? I know you’d join Jamie and his friends in egg hunting.”

“Okay, okay,” He replied. Jackalope still got several experiments he wanted to start on, but he also must not abandon his guardian job and his center. “Anyway, don’t we have a tea hangout with Tooth and the guys in...” Jackalope glanced over at the clock hanging on the wall. “Ten minutes.”

“Go get dressed up then.” Aster said.

Jackalope went into their room and changed into a casual clothing, which was just a hoodie. He tried to go about his day without a piece of clothe on like Aster, but it was hard to not feel self-conscious. He came out of the room to find Aster packing up some snacks and putting them into his bag. “Oh nice, being a good guest?” He teased the grey pooka.

“Yup.” Aster strapped the bag tightly around his chest. “Ready?”

“Race you there?” Jackalope stretched out his toes and legs, his tone challenging. He smirked back as Aster gave him a mocking grin.

“I won the last time. What makes you so confident you’ll won this time?” Aster tapped the floor a couple times, conjuring the tunnel to the Tooth Palace.

“On three?” Jackalope said after they both jumped down the tunnel.

“O-“

“Three!” Jackalope took off on all four with the wind trailing behind him. “Growing old? Cottontail?” He yelled over his shoulders.

“That’s cheating!” Bunny took off after him.

The white pooka laughed as he picked up his pace. He wouldn’t even mind if he still lost this time because getting to spending time with Aster was enough for him. Jackalope sometimes imagined if he wasn’t able to retrieve his memories, where would their relationship be now? Where would he even get to now?

There were several ‘what if’s one could think of, and he would never trade this ‘what if’ for another one.


End file.
